001[Music] the meeting to order. Roll call, please. Mr. Davis, >> Mrs. Eles, >> here. >> Dr. Hooker, >> here. >> Mrs. Brown, >> here. >> Mrs. Lewis, >> here. >> Mrs. Sing >> here. >> I'd entertain a motion to adopt the agenda. >> So, moved. Second. >> All those in favor? I >> I uh I'd like to entertain a motion to go into executive session uh in accordance with OCR121.22, OCR21.22 G13 and 5 as listed in the agenda. >> So move. >> All those in favor? I >> I we will be back. [Music] All right. Um, we are now returning from executive session. Again, thank you for your patience. Um, and we did have some technical issues, but I believe this is actually being live streamed now. We were not having live stream, but now
002it is working. So, um, so we're now going to have a work session. Um, and, uh, Mr. Kcki, you're going to do a presentation. >> Uh, yeah. Procedurally, I think, uh, uh, Dr. Hooker, we were going to, uh, look at, um, allowing, uh, public participation prior to, uh, the start of the work session. >> Okay. You want to do it that way. I I thought you were going to present it. Okay. Um, so, uh, we would like to hear from the community members that are here, and we do appreciate you being here. Um, I would request I don't think we have a microphone or is that a microphone in the middle there? No, it's not. It's just >> Okay. I I just would ask you can just stand where you are and tell us who
003you are, where you live, and then I would really request because I know the motions are running high and are very raw. Uh two minutes, you know, speak whatever you want to say, tell us what you want to hear, but I would request that you limit it to two minutes. Uh because we could be here all day long. So >> and then and then just a reminder sorry no that once we do start the work session the way the work sessions happen is that there's no interaction then with people here right >> while the while the board works and it's your opportunity then to just watch us work and hear the things that we say. I just want to be clear so that you say everything you want to say. >> Yes please >> before
004we skip that session. So, um I would just if you want to somebody stand up then introduce yourself and tell us where you're from and you're welcome to speak. >> Okay, I'll say no. >> Thank you. >> Um hi everybody. My name is Kelly Manfield. I have three kids in the district. I live right around the corner off Shauny Run. I'm soon to have four. Um so obviously I have a vested interest. Um, I guess we are about what 18 months into the pandemic now. And when I say that, like I feel like we've all learned a lot, all of us, uh, across the board. And I guess from a parent standpoint, my request to the board is that at this point, you know, I know that the Ohio State report cards have come out.
005I don't know where we are with that yet. However, I would ask that you guys kind of focus on academics and let us as parents focus on the safety aspect. Um, you know, I just want to know where we stand academically at this point. And when you take into consideration how we're going back to the school, I think other than just the mask, which to me is kind of a red herring because there's the plexiglass, there's the social distancing at recess, there's the non-interactions classes, and all of these have a huge impact on our children and their lives from a mental aspect, far greater than their risk of COVID death. Um, I mean, if you looked at the CO death, which I know you guys all know the data, I'm not going to say that.
006You know, everyone's well educated. Um, but if you're going to use the same logic, you shouldn't let kids drive to school for that because the accident rate among kids driving has a higher death rate than CO does. So I, you know, I just I just hope that you can, you know, help the community um by trying to see our point of view since you are elected delegates for us. Um, and that's kind of where I see it. Anybody else? >> Thank you very much for your comments. I appreciate them. >> Hi. Um, I'm Melissa Holinger and um, I live in I've just moved here so I'm new to all this. Welcome. >> Thank you. Um, and I have a middle schooler and um, I'm really passionate about it because I was a former school counselor
007and I was a social worker and I've been in the mental health field for a long time. Um, I've been a stay at home mom for the last 10 years so I can't say recent. And um, I am kind of a news junkie. I read a lot and like her I'm just passionate about the whole child and um, I understand we're going to have ups and downs. Um, I'd like for you guys to look at it from a local perspective and not so much looking at what the CDC says because as we all know, they've been flip-flopping and been all over the place. Nobody knows who to trust. Um, I have two kids that are in other schools and the same thing. They they say they're following CDC, they say they're following health department, but
008at the end of the year last year, the health department wasn't doing the Ohio Health Department was not doing what the CDC was doing. Um because at the end of the year they weren't the the health department wasn't forcing kids to quarantine and I want to know are we doing that? Are we forcing healthy kids to quarantine again this year if they're exposed? Um I just feel like all these kids have been together all summer. A lot of them have been together even during the school year not wearing masks. Um adults who are at risk, adults know they need to get the vaccine. They've gotten it already if they know they need it. Um, I just feel like it's a slippery slope and um, I feel like parents ultimately know what's best for their child.
009And if a parent wants their child to come to school with a mask, that's okay. And we're going to support that. And if a parent doesn't want their child to go to school with a mask because it's hurting them, that's okay, too. And I feel very passionate about the fact that parents know what's best for their child and they know what's best for their families. And I feel like we've kind of lost sight of that and we're kind of just, you know, following this crazy news. You know, all these people, there's all this fear and and everyone's scared. And I have relatives that work at Children's. My nanny is a nurse at Children's. There are not there's no kids right now sick from CO. In fact, the psycho board, it's always full there, but it's
010extra full because kids are suffering. And last year my daughter Harper who was in middle school care she got a horrendous rash on her face um and um she has scars from it and we um went to the dermatologist and she said I've seen 100% increase in skin infections and um staff on the face. Um and she's seventh grade. She can she's a pretty clean organized gal. I clean masks every day and she's still got it. And um I'm just passionate about it because my kids are upset about it and I told my son he goes to another school here in Cincinnati and they've already decided and I he said, "Mom, I don't want to go to school." He said, "I'd rather do virtual >> and just break my heart." >> Thank you very much.
011>> I'll go next. My name is Danielle Mendesu and I live in Stbridge. Yeah, we're neighbors. Hi. >> Hi. So, um I think that this is actually very evident, right? Um it doesn't need to be emotional, but we all know the data. I think it really comes down to consent. In every aspect of our children's lives regarding school, we have to consent as parents to what we are putting on their bodies. That includes benadryil hydrocortisone cream topically. I have to sign a form every single year for my kids to have hydrocortisone from a nurse. I have to consent to that. Why? Because you don't want to be helable for putting something on my children's body. Correct? What is a consent form for? Okay. So to mandate a mask on our children without the consent of
012a parent, are you going to be held liable as a district for the ramifications of that? For the emotional ramifications, for the medical ramifications? I don't want to hear that. There's none if there is. There's a personal story. I kept my children home last year because I refused to consent to putting them in a mask. It's horrendous. It's child abuse. It is child abuse. If you want your child in a mask, go for it. Put them in bubble wrap. Have them wear goggles. I don't care. I don't think any of these other parents care. You are in charge of your child and your family. It's called consent. When you rob a store just because you're going hungry because you don't have enough money, that's still robbing. Okay? You have to consent. And that's not what
013this is. There's clearly parents who don't want their children in masks and there's parents who do and that's okay. We we say that we're, you know, a district of, you know, allowing everybody to be their own and we're brave and we we we want everyone to to have their own choices and we're accepting and it seems like the only plan that allows that is to allow everybody to come as their own. To allow each family to make their own choice. Isn't that what we're all about? At this point, it would be sickening and ridiculous to mandate something that parents aren't consenting to at this point. End of story. No emotions behind it. The word is consent. The end. >> Thank you. >> Anybody else? >> Hi, I'm Macy Hansen. Um, I'm actually a 2000 graduate
014from here. I graduated year 2000. So really invested in this school, have seen the school some really great times and seen some not so great times. Um I live here in the district. I live overall. I have two children. I have a going to be a sixth grader and a going to be a first grader. Um it it was a challenging year as we all know and I could not agree more with all that these ladies have to say. Um, first and foremost, what I would like to mention is that I think this room would be met at capacity with parents if more parents knew this meeting was happening. Um, all of us scrambled to get child care, try to figure out how to get here this morning. We didn't know about this meeting and
015I think that you would be floored to hear that our voices are magnified in the absence. So, we are not just the only voices in this district. So, I just want that to be said for me. And if you would like, I'm sure we could gather all the voices that feel the same way for us and share that information with you if you want to know where we back. Um, I think the mental health, the mental health, I mean the physical health. Um, mental health is very important to all this and it hits home for me in a new ways. Um, so I think that if you're going to think of the health, let's think of the long-term health of the children. And we're not just talking about facial guidance. We're talking about plexiglass. You
016can't sit next to so and so. No, no, no. You're not in the same group at lunch with this person. Oh, no. Don't forget to wash your hands. I know you're 12 years old, but we're going to show you how to wash your hands. Take seven days. These are things my daughter was scared to go to school. It was supposed to be a safe environment. We're making our children safe. My child was terrified. Um, my son, we made the choice for him to do kindergarten again. He missed on so much. And I think the biggest thing is academics. Back to the academic standpoint, our academics are at a devastating standpoint. I don't know how a kindergarter is supposed to learn to read through plexiglass, through facial efforts. How is a child supposed to fall on
017a playground and they're upset and not be touched and held by a teacher? So, I think I think the consent's important, the mental health is important, the physical things. I mean to your point her you know we're seeing physical attributes that are happening to us and it's not just facial coverings the 6 ft of distance these are things that are impacting our children long term and again if there was more a little bit more transparency on the time and the date of this meeting this room would be full and that we would not be the only voices I think it's very important for that to be heard as well so thank you >> thank you >> hi I'm Lissa Frasier I have three kids in the district. I have I live over in Brill. I
018have a son going in first grade, a daughter going into sixth grade, and then a son going into 10th grade. So, I'm kind of, you know, versed across all the schools. And I will just say like last year, my six-year-old every day can get off the bus with a headache to the point where I was logging them and thought he has a brain tumor. Something's going on. And his mask would be soaking wet. And I would say, "Ever, take off your mask." And he would say, "I can't. There's CO out here." And you know, I just thought this is crazy. Like we're in our driveway and this kid has so much fear to even take his mask off in his driveway and I just think you know my daughter I would pick her up. These
019kids are not even wearing them correctly anyway. I mean they're hanging around their chin or sideways. I mean if we really think CO is not getting through a Old Navy mask and in hospitals they're wearing bubble suits. I mean it's ridiculous. And then my 10th grader I had to pick him up from school because he had allergies, couldn't breathe, was got detention because he pulled his mask down because he couldn't breathe. And I just feel like everyone hates that. We've seen the data. We could go through it, you know, and you can listen to the moms on Facebook. They're posting all these articles and everyone's going to die if we go back to school. And it's just it's ridiculous. And I think you guys can see the data. Some of the larger districts have already
020come out and said they're not requiring masks. I just think it needs to be up to the parent. And I feel like everyone has kind of already said, you know, what we can say over and over again. I just don't think you guys have the right to mandate that. we need to decide what is best for our children. And I mean, my son going in first grade does not want to come back to Indian Hill. I asked him, I said, "Would you rather go to another school where you're not with your friends?" And he said, "Well, maybe I can just go for a little bit and then if they let me not wear a mask, I can come back." And it's sad because we moved here for the school for the district. And now I
021may have to put my kids somewhere else. And it's just, you know, I just hope that you guys can take this into consideration and let the parents make the choice for their kids and what is best for them. >> Thank you very much. >> You came in late. If you wanted to say anything, we're letting people >> I I absolutely agree with everyone. >> Okay, that's fine. I just didn't want you to be left. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Is there anybody else that has a public commentary? Well, thank you everyone for your uh public commentary and now we'll start the work session with uh Mr. Can make a presentation. >> Thank you. >> I don't know. >> Thank you. >> Welcome everybody and again thank you for your uh participation. Um board members, what
022we've done here is we've put together uh a slide deck and some resources we've shared. Uh I just want to spend a few minutes going back through um a little bit of history, a little bit of data and information and uh start off by reminding everyone of our the assumptions uh with our our work session here today about our school operations. First and foremost, we're going to continue to operate with both an in-person and a virtual learning opportunity this year. Uh, and I do want people to understand that our virtual learning opportunities are different based on our planning for this school year than what we called Brave Virtual Academy last year. And a lot of that's based on student demand. Um, so just to point that out, we we will have some students we expect
023with extenduating circumstances and who may request a virtual option. We were going to have that regardless of whatever plan or decisions were made for reopening school. Indian Hill is going to continue to monitor and uh receive local, regional, state, and national data and input from our area health partners and government officials. Uh I've been sharing with all of you weekly reports throughout the summer board members, and we've continued to monitor this and just want to make sure that everybody here understands we're going to continue to do this on a daily and weekly basis. Uh we've had much help from our partners at Tri Health. As many of you know, we've put on vaccination clinics. Um, we've advocated for for those opportunities as we go along and we're constantly in contact with regional doctors from any
024of the hospitals in the area that people could list. Uh, the district is going to continue to mitigate the likelihood of spread, community spread uh, with cleaning and safety protocols in place. Many of those things uh are just routine now and will continue uh with our staff. And almost all of our typical annual school calendar activities, many of which were not on the school calendar last year, uh were set to commence as of Sunday, August 1st, with the start of fall sports season. Um, and so many of those things that we could not experience over the last year and a half are a part of our our school calendar and activities and are set to happen uh fully this year, which includes field trips. >> Sorry, my mouse is quick there. Uh, some summer developments.
025Again, just for a quick review, uh, House Bill 244 was signed by Governor DeWine in July. There are two major uh points to make with this law which takes effect in October. Um but the spirit of the law is that it prohibits public schools from mandating vaccines not yet fully approved by the FDA. All of the vaccines that are out there right now are emergency authorization. Uh just to be clear, uh it also prohibits public schools from requirements that would discriminate against a classification of those students who were either vaccinated or not vaccinated. Senate Bill 209 was introduced prior to the legislature leaving uh for their summer break. This is a bill that will be taken up in early September that would prohibit public schools from requiring masks. Again, this is not law. It's something
026that will be debated and has made its rounds in the media prior to the legislature leaving. Uh the CDC guidance on uh school return to school recommends strongly masks for those who are not vaccinated indoors. Uh the Ohio Department of Health issued guidance a week ago which recommends masks indoors for schools. Uh Hamilton County is aligned to both the CDC and ODH language with their back to school guidance which they have not issued yet in a document. Uh but we were told by Commissioner Kermanerman last Friday that that language will be the same uh as the CDC language recommending those who are not vaccinated uh to to suggest wearing masks indoors. Uh the uh AAP recommends universal masking for children um uh with the intention to highlight that uh a a serious serious group in
027the population those under 12 are not vaccinated and both children's hospital uh in their back to school planning and Tri Health's partnership have aligned in their language with those masking recommendations. Um, contact tracing is and and thus quarantine and isolation are legal requirements under an order through ODH. Uh, this is a class A reportable requirements for public schools. So, I want everyone here to understand that regardless of what we do when we reopen school, there will still be contact tracing and with suspected COVID cases, isolation and quarantine uh is required and we will have to report that out to the Ohio Department of Health. So there will be communication to families about quarantine and contact tracing. Uh federal transportation has an order in place through the CD through the CDC that that goes through September
02813th that does require masks on all public transport. That includes public schools under their definitions. So regardless of where anybody goes to school, if they ride on a public school bus, they will be required to wear a mask through September 13th, at which time there will be either a renewal or a repeal or a modification of that order from the federal government. Some other data just to share. Um, since May 13th, uh, as we've been tracking onampus cases and local data, we've had zero reported cases among students or staff and 0% of students who we are aware of that have dealt with CO um, over 82% of our staff we believe are fully vaccinated through our partnerships with Tri Health or other area local providers at this time to date. Sorry, >> can I ask
029you a question? Yeah, question clarification about that. Um, >> do we have Do we know the difference in percentage between the people who are physically in the buildings working with the children versus total staff? >> Um, I would be able to say in general, Nancy, based on what we're allowed to ask because people don't have to always give us an answer. We know that over 74% of our faculty participated. They're in the buildings every day inside uh in our vaccine clinics. Um, we do not know the overall percentage of classified staff members who may not be around students on an hourly basis. uh we don't know that percentage uh overall but u based on the data we do have most of our people who are indoors around students throughout the day are vaccinated >> and
030we don't know then of the 26% um that didn't participate in our clinic our time what they may have gotten vaccinated >> we may not know unless they share the information and we can't mandate or require them to tell us >> okay Yeah. >> Yeah. Good questions. Um, to date, uh, there have been 12,779 COVID cases in Hamilton County in the last 18 months. Uh, children aged 0 through 19. There have been 87 hospitalizations. In the last 18 months, there have been zero deaths. Uh, there is no government entity in Ohio that has passed a legal mask, testing, or vaccine requirement for public schools. to date. Vaccinated children, adults do not have to quarantine in public schools if exposed to a CO 19 student in school. Um, this may substantially decrease the amount of contact
031tracing we do this school year. We're not sure. Um, it's it's a an assumption. So, what we've talked through here and what we're going to present is a few slides and each slide has a different rationale. Um, this is a rationale for a mask optional return to school for staff and students. And you can see here some of the talking points. First of all, there's efficacy behind the vaccines. We know that while they're emergency authorized, we know that they're working. Um, and we know that uh most people who have the vaccines have been safe. There's a social, emotional, mental wellness considerations and components to all of our decision-making. I think we've talked about this uh going back to last year and the year before in the spring uh with with every decision that the board
032makes and we have heard from many of our stakeholders including staff about paying attention to the social, emotional, mental toll of the pandemic. Uh local case data is what it is. We just shared some of it. Uh we have had people around campus throughout the summer in the community doing camps, activities, sports, overnights, trips. we're we're not having COVID cases reported to us. Um we've taken local input uh informally um from stakeholders. We've received much input from stakeholders. Um and many of them are are sharing uh similar opinions that we heard today. Uh we have a proven ability to pivot and change our plans if necessary. We did that 10 times officially last year during the school year and uh we were doing regular monitoring of the pandemic and as you all can remember lots
033of extra special meetings and work sessions to make informed decisions. Next would be a rationale for a mask requirement return to school for staff and students and what that rationale would entail. Uh again thinking about the fact that there are no vaccines available for children under 12. Regional state delta variant case loads are increasing. We're being told by uh doctors at Tri Health in our partnership as well as children's uh in some of their back to school sharing that they do expect to see increased case loads over the coming weeks. They cannot pinpoint a peak. Uh >> question. >> Yes. um you state, regional, and state case load increases, but what about local uh case load increases? >> Um what what's aware of? >> Yeah, it's a really good question. >> Locally, because regionally I
034don't know if that necessarily. >> So, first again, Elizabeth, as you all know, I'm not a doctor and I don't control the Hamilton County uh website dashboard for data. So, what I'm sharing with you is what has been relayed and told to me through our health officials and partners. Um, our local zip code case load data for children this summer is zero. Um, Hamilton County uh and the health commissioner have told us that they have even had trouble updating their zip code data on their dashboard because of reporting now. And part of that may be because of the change in the law that occurred in the summer because again you can ask someone if they're vaccinated, but they don't have to answer or provide a response. And with co um some of that data and
035how it comes in and is shared between HCPH and ODH, I'm not sure who's in charge of that, but what I can tell you is those numbers have been low, but are trending upward from what the doctors have told us. They're up 3 to 400% since four weeks ago. Children's I talked with Children's yesterday. Children's was having 15 case positives a month ago. They now have 90 case positives this last week. They have eight kids in the hospital and two are in the intensive care unit. >> With other circumstances or with mitigating you know other >> I don't have what all their co-orbidities are we all know that coorbidities are affect your ability to get any question >> so just just to so I can clarify and Elizabeth I want to answer your question fully
036based on the the data that I have as of last Friday from children's and they're back to school sharing with me um they have 624 beds there there were three children who were admitted one came in suspected COVID two came in with something else and got tested once they were there. My understanding was the number was three. They have had 75 outpatient visits as of last Friday. Um and and 72 of the 75 came in with other um symptoms or other concerns other than COVID. Um and again of those those people 72 of them were asymptomatic and went home. That's the data I have from the doctor at Children's Hospital as of last Friday. But I think it's also important to remember that Children's um serves a large area and my concern is more locally
037such as Sycamore, Marrymont, Madiraa. >> I hear our interaction >> I that information I asked our our partners at Tri Health um and I speak with with the doctors there regularly. They're one of our strategic partners. um they cannot parse out on any dashboard or website um within a zip code within a school district and they have tried for me for the last three months and um I if they could I would give you that number. So that's why I said regional and state I want you to know that this is the best information I had from those doctors. Yeah, you can't get it down. >> No, I just think it's important for us to keep that in mind. So again, that's what I have and that's from a children's hospital doctor as of last
038Friday. U there's again input from pediatric stakeholders. We all we all have heard some of that as well. I think that's another again we're going over a rationale for a mass requirement here to think through that scenario. Um, I do want to point out that this year, unlike last year because of our facility changes and the assumption that most of our children are returning to campus and to school is that there will be no 6 ft of social distancing across campus possible. And in most cases, 3 feet will be ideal. We will not be able to guarantee 3 feet at at all times. And again, that's because we have facilities projects going on and and unlike last year, a large percentage of our students we assume are returning to campus, whereas last year we had
039a percentage that were at home. We also have >> What percentage was that? >> Well, at one point we had over 300 students at home on on Brave Virtual Academy depending on what was going on during the year. So, we started off the school year with let's say approximately 15% of our campus light and and um we were able to do some more with social distancing. >> Thank you. >> We also again with this rationale have the ability to monitor and pivot and change our plans if necessary. That doesn't change. >> Another rationale again just to put forth today for the board would be to continue to reflect on new information and wait uh and not make a decision. Um, we we know that there's no vaccine news yet for under 12. We continue to
040hear rumors that that's being floated out uh as early as the first week of September. We don't know when an emergency authorization will come, but when it does, we will communicate about that and advocate and promote the opportunity for vaccines. Um, regional state case load data, as we know, uh, we're reviewing it weekly and it evolves and changes weekly and I don't think that we can say what the data will look like in two or three or four weeks. um input from health officials and governing bodies also evolves weekly and uh we again we've got the approving ability to make a decision and adapt and announce plans after August 10th and still be ready for the start of a school year. So again those are just considerations with regards to that rationale. Um the the
041fourth one which I don't have here on a slide which I think we we've talked a little bit about just in general would be also the ability to take a halfmeasure approach with a grade level or classification of students for a mass requirement or not requirement. Um so u those are the considerations uh board members I wanted to put in front of you and I'd like to open it up for some dialogue and if you have any other questions that I can provide answers to we'll try to do that. So, um I would uh like to hear from each one of the board members uh their thoughts. Um if that sounds good to all the board members. Um Nikki, you're down there. You want to start us off? >> So, I did write few points.
042So, I'll read it to my phone. But I just want to say is that I heard all the parents and I appreciate all of you coming here tonight and sharing your thoughts with us. I I agree with the decision. I agree that this decision doesn't have to be emotional. We have to focus on how we can continue providing the top class academics that Indian Hill is known for. So for me, just like everyone here in this room, kids safety and well-being is the most important. I respect everyone's recommendations, suggestions and opinion and I agree to many of you to some extent. Again the decision I know whatever happens today it's not easy for any of us to make but the decision has to be made. So I took some time out to read the articles
043published on school reopening with pros and cons about wearing a mask and mask option from different experts. I even seek advice from some of our local practice practicing doctors and who are parents in a district and who are not parents in a district so that I can have a broader view of uh opinion. We have all come very far and have stood strong before CO 19 together. Unfortunately, with the new Delta variant, pandemic is still not over. We still have to keep our guards up and take precautions and protect our children who are not vaccinated yet. The Deltton, sorry, the Delta variant might not be in a district right now, but with so many people traveling outside the country and to other states, we never know when it'll arrive here. I'm not at all suggesting
044that we live in a fear and keep our mask on forever. All I'm suggesting is as people are still traveling and will continue to travel till school start, we take some extra precaution for the first three or four weeks and monitor the situation. Once everyone settles down, traveling decreases and we have a positive data. We reevaluate the situation just like how we had done in last year. I know some parents may not like the mass mandates but right now our only goal should be keeping students safe and physically present in school. In last one year we have learned a lot how school closure possessed the bigger danger of learning loss widening educational disparities and worsening mental health and not to mention the hardship for parents. I believe kids learn best when they are in the
045classroom with their teachers and friends and I'll share one more thing. I agree with moms that it should be your right but it is important for us to save the kids. We have to make sure that they get the best education and we are not asking to mandate it for the whole year. We're just saying just at the beginning let's keep it slow. take it slow and then go from there. >> Thank you, Nancy. >> Uh, so I'm an advocate of opt optional masks. Um, I think that that's the best and safest way for everyone from mental health to academic to consent to families to um and it also gives us the option as a school board and a district that if we do start to see increases in cases, we can pivot and require
046masks if needed. Um, I want to back up a little bit and remind my cohorts on the board that we need to be consistent that last year we made our decisions based first on local, meaning really local in the district school district data, then we looked at neighborhoods, then we looked at regional, then we looked at state, and then we looked, you know, national. And we need to be consistent and do that again. Um, we cannot make assumptions about travel. Um Nikki, I know you just got back. Um Elizabeth's been gone, but we cannot assume that we know where people have traveled or if even if they have traveled. Uh we can't make assumptions about other behavior that our district residents um have participated in. And we can't make any decisions based on assumptions. Uh
047we driving up here, I passed three different groups of kids practicing some type of sport. Nobody's masked. We've had kids in camps all summer. They've been in swimming pools. They've been on vacations. Um I think we've been on vacations. We've been in crowds without masks. Um and we all seem to be doing fine. But what we do know is that we know that a big percentage of our district, both parents and staff and um children to some extent have been vaccinated. Uh there's still no evidence that children under 12 are spreading to each other. when they test positive, they're largely asymptomatic and not sick. And I have several articles with me if you need those. Um, we have a large turnout for the vaccination clinic at the school, which tells us that most of our
048community has been vaccinated. Um, many students have had COVID or tested positive, which also allows some immunity. Um, if all people have to mask regardless of the vaccine, then what is the incentive for the unvaccinated? Why would if I hadn't gotten the vaccine and I'm being told I'm gonna have to wear a mask even if I have the vaccine? Then what's my incentive? Um 450 children total in the US have died from supposed COVID. That's not even proven over the past 17 months. U that's 450 out of 75 million which is 0.00006% of a death rate in children. Um, the other concern about starting this the school year with a mandate for the mask is what's our trigger point? What what will we then use to decide that we're done wearing masks? If we're wearing
049them and we don't we have we have 0% in our district right now of of positive COVID cases. If we're wearing masks, then at what point like it's not going to get less than zero. So, how do we decide to let people out of masks? Um, I am very, very, very concerned about the unintended consequences of masking children K through 12. I'm super concerned about the mental health in this district. Just so concerned. Um, really concerned about their social health. I'm very concerned about their academics. Um, I do believe we've slipped behind. I think we're I think we're probably everyone has, but Indian Hill didn't have to and we've got to get kids back on track. Um, you know, we just have to watch and wait and let's decide as a board at what point
050do we have to put our kids back in masks. And we als you know we know that a lot of the other um protocols are will be going away partly situational and partly because um the world has moved on and and I agree with someone said at some point about um you know they're our children are out in the community. They're associating with everyone without masks. There there's no more social distancing. They're going to Kroger. They're going to church. They're going wherever they go. and we bring them to school and then lock them down and put them in masks. It makes no sense. And then they walk out of here, take their mask off and you know, whatever. And so then we also put ourselves in the position of what are we going to do
051about our theater kids on our and our athletes? Are we going all of a sudden now on August what's our first day of school? 18th. >> Yeah. >> On August 18th, all of a sudden our athletes have to put masks on and they haven't had them on all summer. It doesn't make any sense. Um, I disagree with the first three or four weeks um because it I think the first three or four weeks of our educators could probably tell us set the tone for the whole year. And if we bring our children back and they're um uncomfortable or um scared, then that sets the tone for the whole year. Um, and I 100% agree that we need our kids in the classroom every minute of this school year, if not some extra time to make
052up for what we haven't had. Um, and I want to be just super cautious about the hypocrisy of all of us running around all summer without masks and then all of a sudden making our children wear masks. Um, I think that's it for now. Elizabeth >> Nancy, you stole the words out of my mouth. I'm also very pro- mask optional. >> Elizabeth, excuse me. Could you turn? >> Oh, sorry. Sorry. I'm very pro mask optional. I think what we have to remember is last year we made some very difficult decisions about coming back to school and we did those based on local data and the impact um of the COVID situation in our district and it was a difficult decision but we made it and we made it for the for the community and it
053was a very good decision and our executive team have shown us and proven that they can pivot and make necessary changes as the situation changes with CO and I recommend that we follow and be consistent and base our decision on data. I also have seen firsthand the effect that masks have on children, especially little children. You cannot have a kindergartener learn language if the mask is covering the face. You need to see facial expression. You need to be able to see the words formed by the mouth of the teacher. And um I have a very anecdotal story that I've told some of our um board members. I have a granddaughter who got on the bus every day last year and a little girl two doors down got on the bus and sat with her and
054two months later the mothers meet on the street and the girls aren't wearing masks and my daughter says to her her daughter Jiselle is this Lucy and Jazelle looks at Lucy and says no I've never seen this girl in my life and Victoria says are you sure this isn't the girl you ride the bus with she says no and then Lucy's mother says Lucy is this Jazelle? And Lucy looks at Jazelle and says, "No, I've never seen this girl in my life." And after two months of sitting side by side and talking, they didn't recognize each other. So, what does that tell you? It is not a healthy situation. And we've heard from mothers and there there is data out there that masks are not healthy to be worn eight hours a day. But further
055than that, the ramifications that these mental health issues will carry on for years to come is a serious consideration. And we are being hypocritical. If after school we go out and nobody wears masks and no one's required and then all of a sudden the kids go to school and you're going to lock them up, why not put handcuffs on them? It's just not a healthy situation. um we cannot base our decision about where where the Delta variant's going to go. If you look at the map of the United States, the Delta variant is pretty much localized in the Midsouth. It's all over, but there's reasons why it it's spreading where it's spreading. And we have to make decisions based on what we know today. Not worry about the sky is falling two months down the
056road. If in two weeks we we find that it's invaded our community and it's local, then we can make decisions based on that. But I think my opinion is let's move forward with a healthy start to the year and set the tone for strong education. And I think parents who are worried, they're welcome to send their kids with masks. And I think some kids probably should if they have compromised immunity to to wear masks. It makes sense. But I don't think it should be forced on everyone when in the larger community we're not forcing everyone to wear masks. Um anyway, I I I feel strongly it should be optional. >> Thank you. was. But Kim, did you want to say anything? >> Um, I I have a few things. Um, I think the Delta variant
057changed the playing field this summer and it's changing the playing field incrementally on a weekly basis. Um, the most logical choice we could have made would be the unvaccinated must wear masks and the vaccinated not wear masks. Unfortunately, the Ohio legislature took that away from us. We're not permitted to say that. We're not permitted to do that. Mask mandates, I think, will keep less people quarantined because whether they catch COVID in the classroom or outside of the classroom, if they have a mask on, they don't have to quarantine, which is unlike ODH last year because you had to quarantine if even if you had a mask on. That's not the case anymore. And I want to make clear that I understand that if we were to do a mask mandate, it would only be inside
058so that it wouldn't affect athletes. It wouldn't affect people on the playground. It was only for and indoors because that's what the CDC recommends and that is what um Children's Hospital and others recommend. Um and and those are at least my thoughts right now. on. I think it's really important that we as a board continue to monitor this and continue to monitor them all of the considerations that that you raised, Nancy, and that you raised, Elizabeth, and a lot of our stakeholders have raised that we've got to make sure that we continue to look at the the mental health of our children and um that, you know, if things change and the Delta variant that we don't have any cases and if as a as a whole, Hamilton county doesn't and we're not increasing cases
059at Children's Hospital in in in few weeks. We're decreasing cases at Children's Hospital. I think we as a board have an have an obligation to continue to meet and to continue to discuss and to continue to re-evaluate. >> Thank you, Kim. Um, thank you everybody for your comments. Um, uh, I personally have struggled with all the comments from the wonderful stakeholders that came. um because I do hear what they're saying, but the actual science is there is no scientific data that there is any long-term harms from wearing a mask. Um and so uh the American Academy of Pediatrics in the best interest of the children are recommending mask uh specifically in that document if you read it. Uh there is no scientific published data on uh that problem, but there clearly is scientific published data
060on missing school because you're in quarantine affects mental health really badly. So um you know uh Summit u and u seven hills are going to start in mask um I think in the best interest of the kids. Um, I really think that we need to also, um, I think the science is clear. This is the cautious thing. I really, with due respect to those that disagree with me, I really don't think there's a negative to wearing a mask. Um, so I I'm all for the mask and I think we've talked about this uh, a lot. So, I think the science is clear. We should follow the science and protect children. Can I read something um that was published in USA Today when the CDC came out? >> Sorry, thought it was loud. My kids would
061say I'm loud enough. I don't need a microphone. >> Um so, um this was published in USA Today uh when the CDC came out with their kind of broad strokes. Um and basically, you know what they recommended, so I won't read all the detail, but um they're urging that The American Academy of Pediatrics and CDC urging that children return to full-time inerson learning in fall. Okay, we all agree on that. But then the CDC director says the Delta variant is showing every day its willingness to outsmart us and be an opportunist. But in rare occasions, rare occasions, some vaccinated people infected with the Delta variant after vaccination may be contagious and spread the virus to others. Um, but the reality is there's hardly any transmission among fully vaccinated people to truly affect community spread. There
062isn't a whole lot of benefit that's going to be felt felt by this, meaning the mask mandate. Um, we have good data that vaccinated people don't spread CO as efficiently as unvaccinated people, blah blah blah. He suspects the new recommendations may may be more successful in getting unvaccinated Americans to wear masks in public and empowering businesses and schools to implement mask mandates without requiring proof of vaccination. So it has nothing to do with spreading the virus. Um another the guy from let's forget his name from Brown Dr. Ashish Ja I believe um he says I'm gonna have to find it. He basically said this has nothing to do with the spread. Um he said this this policy is changes based on data he said but will it help? Not really. So, um, and the reason
063that there's no long-term data on the effect of mass longterm is because we don't it hasn't been long term. It's been 18 months. There's not a lot of data out there. Um, I think parents know best how their their individual children are affected. >> Okay. >> I Yeah, I first I want to make a clarification. When I was suggesting for mask I wasn't saying that it should be everywhere like it's only indoor especially this year because we cannot provide 6 ft or at sometimes we may not even able to provide 3 ft of social distancing. So in that case ma putting a mask just at the beginning of the school year would be important because again we're not making an assumption of who's traveling and who's not that is something is during the summer time
064there are a lot of parents and families traveling outside the country or outside the state and with delta variant we can't say we cannot be neglig enough to say that it will not make our way. We don't know when it'll happen. We can't just sit and wait and assume that it'll never make it to our way. And and I'm not suggesting that we continue putting masks throughout the year. It's just for the beginning as a precaution so that we don't have a spread here and because of that we have to close down our schools. That's not what we want. We want our kids in the building every single day and get the education that they deserve. And we have learned in last year that kids learn best when they are in the classroom with their
065teachers and with their peers. I have heard many of you saying and Nancy as you quoted there was an article this uh yesterday on New York Times and I can read it through that. It says uh this was by an um pajama just sorry it just moved I'll just give you a of what I read. So it basically talks about the delta variant is a new variant. It is very different than what we had before the co and the delta variant. There is a difference. We knew a lot now we know a lot about CO but we still don't know how delta variant is going to have an effect on kids and adult and people who have got vaccine are still getting sick. They're not going to the hospital but that does not mean that
066they cannot get it or they cannot spread it. So it becomes our responsibility to protect the younger ones who haven't got vaccine. And again, I am not saying that we need to have mask on for the entire school year. It's just for the beginning as people come back into the school buildings from their vacation. And we don't know and now we can ask anybody whether you are vaccinated or whether you're not vaccinated. If we were allowed to do that, I think it would have made everybody's life easy. If you are vaccinated, you don't have to wear a mask. That's simple and easy that we all are doing. One more thing I will share is when I was walking inside this building I saw many of you were not wearing a mask and I was the
067only one and I even asked Dr. But am I the only one who's wearing a mask? And I kind of felt like, oh my gosh, I'm the only one wearing I do not need to wear it. Maybe I need to pull it down because no one else is wearing it. But because I travel outside the country, it is my duty that I need to wear it so that if I'm a carrier, I don't want to spread it. I want to protect everybody here. So that's why I put on the mask. But not many times kids would do that. Kids out of peer pressure may take it down. They might not be vaccinated and they will take it down and now we are risking that. Thank you, Nikki. >> I to and I'll to um to
068your point about we don't sorry >> to your point about not knowing about the Delta variant. What we do know, we know that it's more contagious, but we what we also know, and this is from a study in the UK who had a huge surge in terms of the number of cases, this new surge in the UK was pretty similar in size to the one that they saw in the winter, but it has not translated into deaths at nearly the same rate. So, I think it's possibly more contagious, but less deadly. Also, I want to remind everyone that last year everyone was wearing masks and we still had cases of COVID. So, right now we don't have cases in locally. I would recommend we don't wear masks and if it pops its ugly head up,
069then we put the masks on and it's a much healthier way to start the school. You can't make decisions based on what if cuz what if may never happen. I disagree on that with you Elizabeth because we are seeing numbers are going up. We we don't have the local data. I agree but we will never have a local data because of this new rule that you cannot ask people whether they are vaccinated whether they had COVID or not like people don't have to declare it. Bethesda hospital this morning last several months they had zero cases. This morning they had 25 new co patient with seven on ventilator. So we are seeing a little bit of birds going up. It's not that it's not happening and all I'm saying is that we just I know I'm
070not supposed to talk but those aren't children. >> We really cannot if this you need to reopen it to the farm. You need to reopen it when there's >> you guys are elected constituents. We appreciate we appreciate Yes. We appreciate you all coming here and listening to us. >> No traveling here to stop all the breaks. We people travel on breaks and I never understood this last >> ladies and gentlemen. We're in the middle of a work session. We we moved the public participation to beginning the moving. Uh the board members have listened and again I I know that our board members are willing to listen but we need to continue the work session that we're in now. Thank you. One other thing I I would love to have input on if we can. Um
071I don't quite know where this comes from, but what how are the teachers feeling? How does the staff feel? What are your you know what kind of thoughts are there? >> Um what I would share with the board members uh is that um our IEGO leaders have done uh some informal polling amongst faculty members only, not classified staff, and that the majority of the faculty across all four buildings would prefer a mask optional. >> Mask optional. Can you repeat that? I'm sorry. >> The the majority of staff who were pled that participated in an informal poll would prefer a mask option. >> Okay. >> That was the teachers. >> All right. Um >> I don't I don't think anyone is saying that people shouldn't wear masks if they want to and if that if they're
072more comfortable. But it it we're we're I think we're well enough into this pandemic and the handling of it that people can make their personal choices based on their own health, their own family situation, their own desires. And um I'm optimistic that we will do fine. And I'm also optimistic that we've made some really really tough decisions in the last 18 months and that if we have to make more tough decisions, we will do that. But right now, we don't have the data that supports mandating masks. And nobody anywhere is mandating masks. If if the government really thought that our children should be in mass, they would have done a mandate. And so, let's let's go back to we've always made decisions the way we've made them. Let's not take a detour and make decisions
073based on whatifs when we've never done that. It's always been on the data we have right now and we have plenty of time between now and the first of school that if all of a sudden there's some huge surge then we come back and have another conversation. So I I think the safest and best option right now is mask optional because that gives everybody their own personal comfort zone to do what they need to do including our teachers and staff. You know, I would never ask a teacher to not wear a mask if they feel more comfortable. I would never ask a child or a family, but I also want to give the same respect for the people who don't feel comfortable in masks or feel that it it isn't necessary. >> All right. Um
074I think uh probably unless there is some other piece of fact or information, we probably need to entertain a motion to do something. And um I'm seeing just reading the tea leaves here, we seem to have three people that are propon proposing a mandatory masking for the first four weeks. Um so I would entertain a motion to that effect and then the board members that don't agree with that can vote against it. But, uh, Miss Lewis, could you >> may I just ask you, would it be advisable to convene again in a week and make the decision then? >> Um, I'd rather go ahead and do it now. Miss Lewis, what do you think? >> I mean, I think what we I think I'd rather do it now and we have two weeks before the
075start of the school year and to the extent that we are able to get more data. um where that's not the appropriate response. We'll have more data from other school districts. We'll have more data from doctors. Well, um I I think that we should probably give people guidance now. It's, you know, I mean, I I would hate to wait to give any type of guidance and obviously things can change. Um I think that's what we did last year is we made changes very quickly along the way. >> So, could you give me a motion? Is that possible? Let's talk about let's talk about the motion for a minute because you're sort of setting it up assuming you know how people are going to vote and so you're setting it up so that we're kind of
076stuck. >> We would have to come back we would have to come back and revote. Whereas with a mask optional, we could put guidelines in there for when we would we would go towards mandatory and when we would go towards I I don't think we could ever go away from mask optional. It'll always be there. People can I mean kids are going to get strapped, they're going to get stomach flu, they're going to get flu, what you know, and if now people are conditioned that a mask is a way to keep from getting illnesses, then great. They can do what they want to do. But if we if the resolution is saying that we're going to start school in masks, then we've stuck ourselves and we have to come back before school starts and have
077another conversation about it. >> We can always have another conversation uh Nancy uh before school starts because right now parents want to know how things are going to be. So that's why it is important that we have a decision today so parents can at least plan for it and then we will continue evaluating the data and the information >> but we don't have any data right now that says we need to put our kids in masks. >> Yeah. What is the data? >> The data is the fact that cases are going up in Hamilton County. We've got kids in children's hospital. We've got kids on ventil kids in the ICU. I am sorry. We have cases going up in every Yes, we do. I'm sorry. >> See, we have to take precaution when the storm
078comes. You just don't sit hoping that the storm will pass by and would not have any >> time of the pandemic, too. But that doesn't mean I can make bad decisions. >> All right, >> Elizabeth, I think your point of procedure was >> what could a board member do? And that's what Dr. Hooker was asking. Any board member can promote any resolution they want at this time. >> Yeah. And we are not saying that it is going to be for the year just to begin the year mayor carefully and then we re-evaluate the when we meet again in three or four weeks or district >> excuse me please. >> So Nancy I'm trying to I'm trying to ask a question. So, um, as a procedural matter, as I think they said, anybody can propose one.
079Um, I mean, if if you think that there is a way that you can propose something that would would satisfy our concerns, I mean, certainly you can feel free to propose something and then we can vote on it. I think that um what you're hearing from me at least um what you're hearing from me at least is just that I would feel more comfortable at this time to have a mass mandate when we come back to school for many for the reasons I stated. I think that we have an obligation to continue to evaluate the data on a weekly basis as we've done in the past and we have the obligation to come back and re and revote if we have to um at some point. But so again, I I I don't have any
080problem with you trying to come up with a resolution that that might satisfy those of us and because I think you you've heard some of our concerns. Um I don't know whether it would or it wouldn't. And then, you know, I think I again I'm not really a procedure. I don't really know exactly how it works, but I would think then if some motion doesn't pass, then another board may member can make a different motion. But I I don't know what the procedure is to be honest with you. So if we have a resolution, if you're saying we're having a you think of a resolution to mandate the mask, then in it we have to have the guidelines of how how long we'll have it for what the numbers need to be because again right
081now in our district we have zero cases. So h at what what's the trigger then? Because it's not going to get less than zero. So, how I I I'm baffled as to why how we would handle that. >> Why don't we put forth a motion to adopt the recommendation that we are mask optional at this point and if we get cases in our district, maybe even one, then we go to mask um >> or we revisit. But I think at this point because there are no cases in our district, we should go mask optional, review the data on a weekly basis or daily basis and if anything changes, we have proven we can pivot and make changes and we can go to masks necessary for uh four weeks or whatever. We did that last year.
082>> All right. Then I'd like you to go ahead and make that motion and then we can vote on it and then we can have a second motion if that motion fails. Would you please make a motion? >> Can we please um I put forth a motion that we make masks optional with the caveat of revisiting the data um weekly or bi-weekly um or twice a week so that we can come back and discuss if necessary to make masks optional. Just as a point of process, Elizabeth, because I heard you say three things there about the review term last year when we started off the school year. We did a bi-weekly um review and then we ended up by November looking at things weekly with reports shared to the board even though we didn't meet
083weekly. Just as a point of clarity, >> I meant not bi-weekly, not every two weeks, every twice a week is what I meant. >> I heard you say that too. Okay. But I just want to make a point. We don't have point. I need a >> second. >> We have a second uh discussion. >> Go ahead. Now, sorry, just brought this forward. Sorry. >> Okay. I just want to say is we don't have the data because we are not collecting it for the district. >> We don't have any data because kids are off and we don't have >> any children in our district. >> No, it's not. >> We don't know that. >> Hi. All right. >> It's not about whether we have a kids in the hospital or not. You cannot just assume that
084Nancy and let's not make this emotional or political. It's just we are all trying to keep a kid safe and this is just precautionary. Just as a point of clarification, Nikki, um because quarantine and contact tracing are class A reportable order under the law in the state of Ohio, I just want everybody to understand we are monitoring and collecting any data we get and any information and we are reporting it to Hamilton County and ODH under the law. And so what we do have right now is the best data we we have because of how it's collected and how it's shared. But we are doing that to meet the law. But the kids have been out of school, so you've not had them collected. >> So, uh, we've got a motion and a second. Um,
085Mr. Davis, you want to do a roll call? >> Mrs. Johnston, >> hi. >> Mrs. Eckles, >> hi. >> Mrs. Lewis, >> no. Mrs. S, >> no. >> Dr. Hooker, >> no. >> I would now entertain a different motion. Naked. >> I'd make a motion to mandate a mask for first three or four weeks. >> We got to make it specifically specific. >> We have a meeting on the 14th if that'll help you. >> August 14th. >> We have a board meeting on September. >> Motion that we mandate the mask till a next meeting and then re-evaluate >> the meeting on the 14th. We have a meeting next week. So you mean the meeting? >> No, meeting on in September is when we re-evaluate and see what the data is in our district and locally
086and then revisit and decide what we need to do next. >> Can I have a second? >> I have a question in order to actually make an amendment. Um Kirk, um what is the uh currently there's a requirement under federal transportation law that all kids that are on the bus must wear mask to a certain date. What is that date? >> September 13th. >> September. >> We expect to hear news prior to September 13, but that was that is when it is to be re-evaluated. >> So the 14th works. >> Yeah. So that that's why I was asking the question. Sorry. I apologize for asking a question before I even >> So, are you seconding that motion, >> Dr. Hooker? Before we second that motion, we do need to get in there the language of
087indoor. >> Oh, yes. Please, please, can you can you help with that, Mick, real quick? Well, I think we need to hear what Nikki is saying specifically about she she made a motion to require masks until September 14th. Where how >> indoors indoors when kids are indoor settings. Thank you for the clarification because we did not want to have that affect football and things like that. >> All right, Miss Lewis, would you second uh do you want to second that motion? >> Um yes, the clarification is placed. >> Um can I have a roll call, please? Mr. Davis. >> Mrs. Sing. >> Hi, >> Mrs. Lewis, >> Mrs. Eckles, >> no. >> Mrs. Johnson, >> no. >> Dr. Hooker, >> I >> All right. Um, since that is what we came to do today and
088that's the only thing on the agenda, I would entertain a motion to adjurnn. Have a >> second. Second. Second. >> All those in favor? Hi. >> Exclusive coverage on the Indian Hill Television Network has been a copyrighted presentation of the Indian Hill High School Video Department.