CALDWELL, Idaho — Editor's Note: This article was originally published by the Idaho Press.
Caldwell students and staff will be wearing face coverings indoors through Oct. 14.
The mask mandate will be implemented on Wednesday. Students and staff have to wear face coverings indoors and on school transportation, according to an email from the Caldwell School District. Indoor sports like volleyball are covered under the mandate but outdoor activities are not.
“It just seems to be snowballing rather quickly,” Canyon Springs High School Principal Christine McMillen said at a special board meeting held Monday, where she reported about 17% of the student population was out. “I did quarantine a classroom today because of evidence of substantial spread among the students.”
Around 80% of staff were masking and maybe 20% of students were wearing masks, McMillen added. Last year, she said there was not evidence of substantial spread in the building but this year things are different.
The Board of Trustees took the action on Monday, according to information sent to Caldwell families.
“The Board will continue to review school based data at upcoming meetings to determine if other action will need to be taken,” read the letter sent to families. “The goal of the district is to keep school open and students attending every day.”
Another principal, Meghan Wonderlich, said on Monday that she was down about 150 students at Jefferson Middle School out of about 610. Only 13 are quarantined because of an exposure at school, she said. The school is working on determining why students are out and looking into why the parents of around 80 students have reported their children are out sick.
It is unclear how many of those 80 are COVID-19 positive students. Over 75% of staff are wearing masks, Wonderlich said, and 20% to 30% of students are masking.
Wilson Elementary School had 107 absences out of 435 students on Monday, Principal Tabitha Bruegeman said. About 42 were quarantined. Another 45 communicated an illness, a potential COVID-19 exposure or just general caution. Around 15 students were on vacation, aren’t being sent to school until masking is no longer required or the school was unable to determine why they were absent.
“Wilson started masks today. The majority of our students did a great job wearing them,” she said. “We did have some families upset about it.”
In the sent to families, Superintendent Dr. N Shalene French asked parents to not send kids to school who are sick or have been exposed to COVID-19. She also asked parents to keep kids who are waiting on a COVID-19 test result at home.
“Please consider getting a COVID vaccination for individuals age 12 or older in your family. Recently, the Pfizer vaccine was fully approved by the FDA,” she wrote.
Previously, Caldwell’s school board required masks through Sept. 3 at Caldwell High School as well as Washington and Lincoln elementary schools after cases were reported during an Aug. 23 board meeting.
The first day of school for the Caldwell School District was Aug. 18. On Aug. 9 the school board chose to encourage masking.
Editor's Note: This story will be updated. Check back for new details.
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