Keeping up with Covid
As many are now aware, Larimer County has chosen to end its mask mandate on February 12. The recommendation from the health department is to continue masking children in schools; however, Poudre School District, Ridgeview’s authorizer, has elected to return to a mask optional setting and Ridgeview will do likewise.
There is an understandable trepidation in the lifting of this mandate for those who believe that masks have made the difference, but should students, volunteers, staff, or faculty choose to continue wearing masks, they will obviously be encouraged to do so. If anyone entering the building wishes to have a mask, we will provide one for them. For us, this debate about masking and vaccines has always been about balancing a desire to honor and respect parental choice and ensuring that the school can remain open for in-person instruction to the largest number of students for the greatest length of time. While I am relieved that the legal and political mechanisms that have made this more difficult are being relaxed, it makes the message of vigilance that much more urgent.
While some students have had to quarantine as a result of infections or potential exposures, this most recent variant has impacted adults much more dramatically than it has students. From a purely anecdotal perspective from a school with around 750 students and around 110 employees, I would offer a few observations.
First, the masks that are worn are not typically the masks that studies have shown to be effective, and the various ways in which they are worn, especially by children, are not the ways shown to be effective in laboratory studies. Moreover, the length of time that individuals wear these masks is longer than was recommended by health authorities prior to the outbreak of Covid. When most people are confronted with these facts about masks, they say one of two things: “at least it is something,” or “if I am in close proximity to others and they are sneezing and coughing, I feel more comfortable wearing a mask.” Neither of these are invalid reasons for making a personal choice to wear a mask; they are invalid reasons for requiring everyone else to do so.
Second, vaccinations principally protect the vaccinated individual rather than the rest of a population they come into contact with. Vaccinated individuals, even those with a booster, have nevertheless contracted the illness. Again, anecdotally, and in speaking with dozens and dozens of people within the Ridgeview community and beyond, those who were vaccinated, and in particular, those who received the booster, became less ill and were sick for a shorter period of time than those who did not. That said, this vaccine is unlike other vaccines we have historically and routinely given our children: it was tested for a far shorter period of time, its long-term safety cannot realistically be known, and by extension, the mRNA mechanism is novel and unproven, and it is an experimental drug therapy that does not prevent disease, but mitigates its severity. Between these considerations and the governmental and political bungling of the last two years, those who have expressed reservations cannot be wholly or breezily dismissed. Because it is unclear and complicated, it must be regarded as a matter of personal choice as to whether individuals choose to vaccinate their children. This is the reason Ridgeview has not advocated for or required proof of vaccination in order to attend the school.
Third, the greatest assurance we can have against an outbreak at Ridgeview is neither masks nor drugs, but community vigilance. That we might not is my greatest worry in the county’s not renewing their mandate. If, in the middle of a surge, the community lets down its guard, we will reverse our successes. We have seen less disease in our school, whether it was colds or flus or any of the ordinary bugs than we ever have, and I believe that that is down to people keeping children home when they appear to be ill and employees feeling as though they are empowered to remain at home until they are well or can test negative. Vigilance and consideration will be as imperative on February 12 as they were on February 11. Please, if you feel that you or your child are sick, consider the larger community and stay home. I realize the sacrifice in that decision. I appreciate the costs of childcare and the problems that ensue from lost wages, but as I have repeatedly said, a sick child affects more than only that child. The impact of this disease on children has been blessedly mild; however, the impact on adults has been severe and sometimes tragic. In making decisions, please be aware of what you might be setting in action.
Fourth, the mitigation measures that we put in place to prevent the transmission of disease around the school will remain for now and are likely to become a permanent feature of schooling. There is good evidence to support the prudence of our having upgraded the ventilation systems to purify the school’s environmental controls, the sanitizing of desks and high-touch surfaces remains important, taking student temperatures and asking them to use hand sanitizer upon the entering the building, and empowering teachers to send students to the nurse’s office if they appear ill will remain important strategies in moving forward.
Finally, I am keenly aware that these decisions will not be met with universal approval. Given that some of us live with immunocompromised family members or are compromised ourselves, or that we are simply anxious about a change being made when there is still so much disease present, and that so many have lost friends and family to this disease, I can appreciate their apprehensiveness and frustration. To this, however, I would add the impact that we have seen on children from this disease and from the measures that have been implemented to counteract it. In this capacity, or in any part of this letter, I do not claim to speak “scientifically” (whatever that might mean), but “observationally.” What I have observed in our students over the past two years has not always been reassuring. They have suffered physically, socially, mentally, and academically. I will not belabor these points here as I have elsewhere because what I want to offer instead is cause for optimism.
If you have time to volunteer or visit a classroom, I think you will see both sides of the coin: the sad effects of the last two years’ governmental measures and the very human causes for optimism. To the latter point, we have incredible students. They tend to be astute and intelligent conversationalists, and even the young students love books, words, ideas, and pose insightful questions. They are competitive: watching the boys this fall in basketball or the girls this winter at their volleyball games was not only good fun, but incredibly reassuring—they can bounce back. Watching them build a set for a play in the parking lot, navigate across open terrain in Wyoming while orienteering, perform in a play, a robotics competition, or prepare for mock trial—they can cooperate and socially interact. Watching them at a dance, or visiting during break or lunch periods, chatting with them during chambers or tutorial, you find that they are not hopelessly stunted. I truly believe that this generation of students has been done a disservice, but I also think that, on the whole, every time they have been provided the opportunity, they have shown a desire and a capacity to excel. As adults talking to one another, we often feel gloomy and exhausted, but as I have moved from those conversations to teaching my classes, or attending games and concerts (like this past weekend’s all-state orchestra concert at Griffin Hall), or seeing six eighth-grade girls sleep all night in their snow shelter when it was -15, I am relieved, buoyed, and persuaded by the exuberance and tenacity of youth. Their vitality, amiability, inquisitiveness, and energy are more than reason enough to remain happily engaged in this endeavor to recover and triumph. I am privileged to have this job, and I look forward to doing this for them with you.
D. Anderson
Headmaster
