An official email was sent to parents of Bartlesville public schools student on Thursday inform them that beginning Monday, April 26, COVID-19 protocols will be eased and that face coverings will be optional for both students and staff.

The issue came up at Monday's board of education meeting that if certain metrics were met, the relaxation of the COVID-19 protocols could be made following a meeting on Thursday of the  BPSD Pandemic Response Committee:

"No longer requiring face coverings while in the Green or Yellow alert levels was supported by 78% of the 3,420 responses we received to the family survey that we sent out via SchoolMessenger on Tuesday morning. The district’s Pandemic Response Committee also reviewed communications we received from various parents and community members as well as feedback from the Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council, school board members, and staff. The protocol on this page has been adopted to become effective on Monday, April 26."

Here is the memo:

Bartlesville Public Schools

COVID-19 Update

April 22, 2021

TO: BPSD Parents

FROM: Granger Meador, BPSD Pandemic Response Committee Chair

Face coverings update

EFFECTIVE MONDAY, APRIL 26

The District COVID-19 Alert Level for the next week is updated each Wednesday and posted at BPSLEARN.COM

No longer requiring face coverings while in the Green or Yellow alert levels was supported by 78% of the 3,420 responses we received to the family survey that we sent out via SchoolMessenger on Tuesday morning. The district’s Pandemic Response Committee also reviewed communications we received from various parents and community members as well as feedback from the Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council, school board members, and staff. The protocol on this page has been adopted to become effective on Monday, April 26.

• Recommend is different than require: It is important to understand that while we are in the Yellow level the district recommends, rather than requires, indoor face coverings for anyone in close contact, for middle and high school students, and for higher-risk and unvaccinated persons. When we are in the Yellow level, that is a general recommendation that each student or staff member may elect to follow or ignore without judgment or stigma, and students and staff can neither be required to wear nor do without an approved face covering.
• Vaccination status is not a public matter: The only time someone would need to reveal and verify their vaccination status is if they were voluntarily seeking from a district contact tracer an exemption from a close-contact quarantine, which would then be held in confidence. Otherwise, their status is a personal matter they may freely choose to disclose or withhold.
• Prevent bullying: Staff have been asked to stay alert for any bullying about students’ individual choices on face coverings. It is important to protect the confidentiality and rights of persons who choose to mask, including those at higher risk or who live with higher-risk persons, and to similarly respect those who choose not to mask.
• Supplied upon request: Face coverings will continue to be supplied upon request.

How the District Alert Level is determined

The Pandemic Response Committee acted on feedback we received about including both the district’s internal student and staff positive case rate and citywide positive case rate in determining the district’s alert level. After 11 a.m. each Wednesday I will calculate the city’s average of new positive cases per 100,000 from the state’s dashboard. I will do the same using the district’s self-reported student and staff positive cases. The average of the two rates will then determine the District Alert Level that I will publish each Wednesday afternoon at BPSLEARN.COM.  (I’ll just use the city rate this summer and for other long breaks when we will not have reliable self-reported student and staff data.)

We continue to embrace full transparency, so you can see all of the underlying data since last summer here and we continue to share our history of student and staff case tallies and the live view of case tallies.

The alert level published each Wednesday will be effective for the following Sunday-Saturday, allowing everyone to prepare should there be a change in alert level and thus our face covering protocol. As an example, if I were to calculate on Wednesday, May 5 that we were returning to Orange 1, that would be posted and then for the week of Sunday, May 9 through Saturday, May 15 we would resume requiring indoor face coverings for students above 3rd grade and for adults.

The pandemic is not over

We do NOT plan to make additional changes in our protocols for the remainder of this academic year. The CDC county data tracker reports that about 20% of the total population of Washington County is now fully vaccinated, so we recognize the continuing threat from viral variants and spreader events. We are not changing our expectations on physical distancing or meal safety, and we are still conducting contact tracing. We have a plan to ensure quarantines need not interfere with senior graduation. And of course if cases were to rise too much, our alert level would rise above Yellow, and then face covering requirements would resume.

If you are stressed

We encourage parents or students who are stressed or have questions about the evolving situation to reach out to our school principals or counselors for support. You can also reach Kerry Ickleberry, the district’s Health and Safety Director, at IckleberryKG@bps-ok.org. Just as the escalation of protocols was stressful, the Pandemic Response Committee has discussed how this easing based on improving conditions creates its own stress, especially for those at higher risk. But our survey result leads me to expect that many of our parents and students will celebrate the tremendous improvement in our district cases and the easing of masking that allows.

Thank you for your continued patience, flexibility, and support,

-Granger Meador

BPSD Pandemic Response Committee Chair