At a press conference on Oct. 16, hosted by Governor Pete Ricketts, Nebraska Department of Education Commissioner Matthew Blomstedt addressed a question about the Alliance School Board’s unwillingness to cooperate with Panhandle Public Health District and other state health agencies as a cause for concern, noting the board’s reticence could lead to the state issuing requirements for the district.
During the conference, Blomstedt addressed the efforts of schools across the state to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, noting that those efforts may not be enough, which will put the districts at risk.
“It’s an uphill battle in our schools because many of our school leaders and our teachers are having to help track and understand where students have been and what had happened,” said Blomstedt. “As we see more and more community spread, it’s going to be harder and harder to maintain a safe school environment. Unfortunately, if we think we’re doing a good job in schools, we know maybe we’re not doing a great job in our communities, and not taking it as serious as we need to take this.”
Blomstedt appealed to parents to continue supporting their children at this time while school is able to be in session, and to take steps to prevent schools from being shut down as they were in the spring.
“The reality for us, keeping these activities going is following these protocols, not just in school,” Blomstedt said. “Everything that we’re learning in school, if that’s working, and we think it is—we think it is working pretty well—but if that’s working, we need to take those same practices, those same procedures, to our private lives and into our social settings.”
Blomstedt shared his worries about the upcoming winter sports season and the chance for the virus to spread. He emphasized that the Directed Health Measures would be critical to keeping schools open.
“Parents, work with your schools; schools, work with your public health officials,” said Blomstedt. “We can get through this winter, but it’s going to be tougher than I think even I wanted, or anyone wanted. I want kids in school almost more than anyone else in the state of Nebraska. The fact of the matter is, we are putting that at risk if we cannot slow, overall, the community spread.”
During the question and answer session, someone asked Blomstedt to provide information about the school board’s unwillingness to cooperate with PPHD.
“Out in Alliance there has been some struggles,” said Blomstedt. “The local school board has really laid it down that they aren’t going to enforce different mask requirements, and provide access. I know that the Panhandle local health department is really trying to work and be there. We’re watching that as well. I just met yesterday (Oct. 15) with a group of school board members asking, ‘hey, look, we’ve got to get to a level of compliance with those types of activities, otherwise, we’re going to have to step in and do a little bit more, and put some other requirements on the school.’ We may have a couple of other circumstances where you run into a few board members here or there, a few community members here or there, certainly parents and otherwise.
“My main message is, everywhere, you have to actually get into line and be able to do that,” Blomstedt said. “I think out in Alliance right now, I’m concerned because I think they’re seeing some outbreaks there. It’s really important that they pull that together. I guess my message will be that there will have to be some kind of formal work to make sure that they’re getting in alignment.”
In a phone interview, Nebraska Department of Education Public Information Officer David Jespersen told the Alliance Times-Herald that Blomstedt spent time on Monday contacting each of the Alliance School Board Members, Superintendent Dr. Troy Unzicker and PPHD Director Kim Engel to try to mitigate the conflict and reach a compromise. He said the high number of cases in a school district of Alliance’s size is a cause for concern.
“The commissioner’s goal is really to get everybody to sit down at the same table and come up with some sort of a compromise, and figure out what can be done to allow the health district to do their job to their full ability,” said Jespersen. “The ultimate goal is to keep as many kids in school, learning, as safely as possible.”
Jespersen noted that Blomstedt and the health department recommended masks in schools from very early on to limit the spread of the virus. He said that if all students and teachers wear a mask, based on the current guidelines, only those who test positive would have to quarantine, whereas a lack of mask-wearing would lead to an increase in the number of quarantined students.
“It is our recommendation to all schools to be utilizing masks,” Jespersen said. “I know there’s not a mask mandate in Alliance currently, but that is one thing we’re in full support of as one of our recommendations. We also believe that those masks really help with the Governor’s (Pete Ricketts) newest DHM, really go a long way to keeping kids in school and keeping the least amount of kids quarantined as necessary.”
As of Tuesday afternoon, according to the Alliance Public Schools’ COVID-19 dashboard, there were a total of 18 active cases in the district—10 at Alliance High School, five at Alliance Middle School, one at Grandview Elementary and one at Emerson Elementary and one at Early Childhood and District Team —bringing the total number of positive cases in the district to 35 since the school year began.
The dashboard showed that 117 people in the district were in quarantine, with the lion’s share of quarantines happening at Alliance High School.
“It’s a really extraordinarily high number,” said Jespersen talking about the number of quarantines and positive cases in the district. “Even when you look across the state at some of the larger districts, that is a very high number. It’s time to have some concern. The real factor there is comparing it percentage-wise with the actual population.”
Jespersen said that Alliance Public Schools is the only school district in the state of Nebraska, that they are aware of, unwilling to cooperate with their health district to provide data and information to guide their investigations of positive cases in the district.
“From what we’re hearing, this is a pretty unique case,” Jespersen said. “I know there are some districts that are hesitant to follow all the guidelines. I think are definitely some districts that don’t want to implement all of the recommendations, but this is a pretty unique case in that there is such conflict between the school board and the health department.”
Jespersen said the Department of Education is looking into their options if the district chooses not to compromise with PPHD, though they are hoping to resolve the situation through negotiation.
“We want to do everything we can to keep the safest, healthiest environment, and as many kids in the classroom as possible, for as long as possible,” said Jespersen. “We’re really stressing that all school districts, not just Alliance, need to be working closely with their local health departments. They’re the experts in this. For those of us who are in the education field, or government, or wherever we land, the health department is there for a reason. They’re the experts when it comes to infectious disease and public health.”
On Tuesday afternoon, Dr. Unzicker confirmed to the Alliance Times-Herald that Blomstedt had been in contact with district officials. He said the board members made changes to the protocols, allowing Alliance Public School administrators to allow PPHD into district buildings to measure or interview during their investigations, provide seating charts with measurements, provide attendance records, and provide parent telephone numbers. The protocols do not allow for talking “to staff or students concerning the case and provide information to PPHD, they will handle this end of the investigation.”
The decision from the board came shortly after Chadron Public Schools announced the decision to not attend scheduled volleyball matches on Thursday, and to not participate in the Pilfold invite set for Saturday due to concerns about the Alliance School District’s handling of COVID-19 cases.