By Guy Page
The State Agency of Education today announced new guidance: after Feb. 28, schools with 80% student vaccination rates should lift the universal mask mandate.
Few schools have reached the 80% threshhold, Gov. Phil Scott said. Progress will be incremental: “It won’t be the wild west out there,” he said.
The move to lifting mask mandates for highly vaxxed schools has been discussed since the beginning of the school year, but has been delayed due to outbreaks and because officials have been giving students time to get vaccinated, Agency of Education Secretary Dan French said.
Lifting mask mandates in all schools will come “at some later date,” French said at Gov. Scott’s press conference today. “We prefer to make incremental steps” because, he said:
- Unlike other states, Vermont is still exiting the Omicron surge, and
- “Schools and families need more time to prepare for this change.”
French did urge that Vermont schools immediately end steps that restrict student learning and development and do nothing to stop transmission.
For example, schools shouldn’t require students to remain silent during lunch. Neither should they require students to wear masks outdoors, French said. “None of these types of measures are necessary, and they send the wrong message that our schools are not safe from the virus,” French said.
“We want to get kids back to normal, and tamp down the anxiety that exists in schools right now,” Gov. Phil Scott added.
Masking is a “layered mitigation strategy” that can be added or deleted as necessary. If the situation changes, mask requirements can be brought back, Health Commissioner Mark Levine said.
One school Covid-19 measure – students eating lunch outdoors – has come under criticism at at least one Vermont school. Two fifth grade classes at Castleton Elementary School have been eating outdoors, sitting at least six feet apart on overturned pails, often eating in silence, for most of the school year, a concerned family member reported. Until very recently the practice has been mandatory and that their child is tired of wearing gloves while eating lunch in cold weather, the family member said.
Vermont Daily Chronicle described the complaint to School Superintendent Brooke Farrell-Olsen. She responded that outdoor eating isn’t mandatory.
“I think required is not the correct word,” Olsen said. “They have been eating outside as part of the outdoor classroom experience in general (depending on the weather) since the beginning of the year and last year….When a complaint or concern is brought forward by a parent, it is immediately addressed as it was in this case. When a parent asked that their child be given the choice daily that child was immediately given the choice as to whether or not they ate outside.”
Vermont Daily Chronicle welcomes Castleton school parent and staff input on this subject at news@vermontdailychronicle.com.
No fourth booster needed, Fauci says – Gov. Scott said that on today’s call between state governors and White House officials, advisor Anthony Fauci said he’s not convinced a fourth booster shot is needed for Covid-19. It’s still under review, he said.
Categories: Covid-19
Strong arm the kids into getting a jab they don’t need.
Take your kids out of school. They will get to the 80% quicker that way.
Plus, they’ll get a genuine education at Parochial & many private schools.
So they should get a dangerous vax that they don’t need and doesn’t work anyway? Parents, just say no. No more masks. It’s really that simple.
What about our children in child care that are not eligible? It is especially criminal to force children 2, 3, 4 + to wear facemasks. They fall off or down every 30 seconds, they are never snug and are often below the nose. If there is a virus in the air, those facemask offer no protection. It is essential for children of these ages to see the full faces of their teachers and peers. The ramifications of all these idiotic policies will have a profound impact for years to come.
Gov Scott did say that some schools may not want to wait till they reach the 80% threshold to remove masks. He said this with no judgement, citing concerns over the masks and how much damage and anxiety they are causing kids and also how some schools are taking on draconian practices far beyond recommendations of the State. The school boards and school district hold the power here.
What about our children in child care that are not eligible? It is especially criminal to force children 2, 3, 4 + to wear facemasks. They fall off or down every 30 seconds, they are never snug and are often below the nose. It is essential for children of these ages to see the full faces of their teachers and peers. The ramifications of all these idiotic policies will no doubt have a damagining impact for years to come.
Homeschool…. get your child out of government schools. The vax doesn’t work..children don’t need to take it, they don’t get C19. Don’t listhe en to these political hacks and criminals, enough is enough. The best thing to do is never ever vote for any of these people again.
Well im not injected and neither are my kids. Their mother is injected and boosted. We all got covid after new years. We’re all fine. Id say early childhood is probably the best time to get covid. One of my children had a fever like me for a few days while the younger one had very little symptoms. Our bodies have developed some natural antibodies which will help us the next time we get it. Children do get covid. We will all be infected and more than once. Regardless of % mrna injected kids in their school, the masks will be dropped. If you want your kid to wear one, go ahead. Mine will not. Pretending masks dont have detrimental effects on physical and mental development amongst youngsters is ignorant.
SO–Gov.. Picklenose says “progress” is injecting kids w/a barely tested & rushed “platform” that is so “leaky” the CDC changed the definition of the WORD “vaccine” just for this mRNA jab that kids do NOT need & pushed on parents scared by media scare tactics 24/7? Nevermind the NEW studies showing a perhaps 1 in 1,200 chance of heart problems in young males! Seen or heard about THAT on the “local TV News”? Funny, nether did Picklenose nor Capt. Combover Levine either..
Any school district making kids wear masks, get tested, or jammed with an experimental serum is no longer a school – it’s a political chess piece. Do not subject children to government sponsored abuse and medical experimentation. Crimes against humanity!
REMEMBER …….. Rember the 8th of November!!!!
Once tyrants have power over your freedom they are loath to surrender it. The answer to this nonsense is mass mask noncompliance.