Eight days. Eight days is all it took for our 7-year-old to contract Covid after being back in Wimberley, TX public school system. 7 Days is all it took for our 9-year-old to be exposed to Covid not once, not twice, but three times since being back in Wimberley, TX elementary school. Now they will both be out of school recovering and quarantining longer than they were even in.
Are we surprised that our 7-year-old child contracted Covid (despite being one of the very few that wears a KN95 mask in class) or that our 9-year-old is sitting in class as Covid easily leaps from student to student where no mask mandate or social distancing enforced, nor are they even strongly encouraged? No. In fact, we resigned ourselves to expect it.
We expected it because we’re living in a part of Texas that barely recognizes the pandemic exists. And our children are attending a school district that doesn’t even do the bare minimum for prevention when it comes to Covid. But we knew this, based on our experience with the WISD school district and its leadership’s lack of meaningful response this past Fall 2021 during the Delta variant surge. The school district did little then and it’s doing even less now to stop the spread which is appalling considering the incredibly transmissible Omicron variant.
In fact, last Fall, rather than adopt proven preventative Covid measures outlined by science, Wimberley school district scrambled to call a task force meeting to “brainstorm” potential ideas around Covid Response levels. Brainstorming ideas to prevent the spread of Covid? It’s not ideas that were needed, it was execution of those ideas and mitigation strategies already outlined by the CDC, WHO, American Academy of Pediatrics, and more. What was needed most was leadership, which did not come.
In Texas where Governor Greg Abbott has restricted mask and vaccine requirements rather than protect his fellow citizens and communities from a public health crisis, it appears easier for some leaders of school districts across this state to turn a blind eye or hide behind that order rather than stand up for what’s going to protect their students and keep kids in school (which I thought as a society we agreed was the goal).
So, in meeting after meeting, including WISD school board meetings which were like witnessing & living in a real-time SNL skit, the dialogue swirled around the inconvenience of masks, vaccine divisive politics, but not about medicine, science, or facts. Instead of listening to modern science, the WISD district and its leadership chose to listen to an aggressive, very loud minority spouting “individual freedom” to not wear a mask, and the need to hold events and pep rallies indoors, despite the surge in cases. Much of the arguments made around “personal freedom” to not wear a mask or get vaccinated was incredibly ironic considering that the State of Texas already requires that students provide proof of 7 immunizations to attend public schools for grades K-12.
Realizing that WISD had no intentions of enforcing any meaningful Covid mitigation strategies as requested by a large group of concerned parents, our family made the decision to remove our three children from WISD and homeschool and enroll one in a private school that believes in science. Not one of them contracted Covid during the Fall.
But this time, this January would be different we thought. It would be different namely because we thankfully have modern medicine and an approved & safe vaccine for 5-11 year olds that can protect our children. Having all been vaccinated, we re-enrolled our two youngest back into public school, to provide them with the social, emotional learning and cultivation of friendships they desperately desired. Perhaps this time, we would be less frustrated & disappointed in the WISD district and its leadership that seem to barely acknowledge Covid or the pandemic. Our children would at least have some measure of protection provided by the vaccine along with their loyal mask-wearing.
Just a few days back, we started to see the alarming increase of cases on the WISD school district’s Covid dashboard. After seeing the numbers, we made a conscious decision to stop seeing our families (one family member is immunocompromised) because we knew deep down this was an inevitable outcome, that most likely our kids would be exposed and/ or contract the Omicron variant. Cases climbed to 65 in one week. And then this week, in one day, 81 new cases, a record.
What’s just so frustrating is that now, after 3 exposures in our 9-year old’s elementary class, the WISD elementary school provided two options via email, one that is so ironic it’s almost laughable, except that this is no laughing matter.
Continue attending school, with all students in class now asked to WEAR A MASK (notated with an asterisk that says this is not a mandate) or stay home for 10 days.
What? I had to re-read it to make sure I was understanding and comprehending the utter irony of the situation. So let me get this straight, don’t require anyone to wear a mask to PREVENT Covid, but now that it is clearly circulating in the classroom (and up over 6% of the school in fact), please wear a mask. This clearly suggests WISD does indeed see the health value & benefits of wearing a mask but doesn’t want to enforce it for risk of upsetting someone’s feelings. This is literally maddening.
I’m so exhausted by all of it. The worrying between having to choose between the health of my children and family or the education of my children. As Peter J. Hotez, a professor of pediatrics and molecular virology at Baylor College of Medicine, stated recently, it’s the choice between a bad decision and a bad decision, to send your kids to school during this Omicron surge. I know there are teachers and staff that are doing the best they can and are also trying to navigate this unprecedented & continued uncertainty. And what they need as much as the students & parents of this community is leadership. There doesn’t seem to be any WISD leaders willing to put aside politics and focus on creating a healthy, safe atmosphere and environment for all students to learn & grow.
I thought this record-breaking Omicron surge at the very least would result in acknowledgement and outreach or communication about this situation from the school district to concerned and anxious parents and students. Yet once again, disappointment and frustration have set in. Since the return to school after winter break, only 1 email communication was sent reminding parents of Covid protocols after exposure. Also, out of the 13 tweets on the WISD school district’s Twitter page this year, none reference this recent alarming and record-breaking Omicron surge. This is irresponsible.
Not only am I exhausted by it, but children in schools across the nation are also exhausted by it. This past week, we saw kids from across the U.S. (New York, Chicago, Denver, Austin’s own Round Rock ISD) take matters into their own hands and stage walk-outs and demands for more Covid protection in schools, because many of the Adults in charge don’t seem to get it, or more concerning, don’t seem to care or care more about their political standing.
Now, I know that everyone is saying it’s just a matter of time, that almost everyone will get Omicron. And I understand that. However, it’s deeply disturbing and beyond disappointing that we cannot as human beings who at the core are social beings, seem to come to an agreement on a set of shared facts that this is a public health issue, not a freedom issue or political issue or a red vs blue issue, or religious issue. It’s a public health issue. I thought that was one thing we as humans all agreed upon, or at least we did at the beginning of the pandemic, as we stood outside clapping and cheering for our frontline health workers and those that dropped off groceries or delivered food, and teachers that met in driveways to help students read.
But here we are heading into year 3 of Covid, and the response to this virus has clearly divided not only our nation, but our local communities, family, friends, neighbors and schools. How do we put aside ideologies and focus on our shared humanity to get past this pandemic? We focus on solutions. Solutions will set us all free. And those solutions provide an extraordinarily clear pathway to freedom…Wear A Mask, Get Vaccinated. If not for yourself, do it for your neighbor.
Thank you for your time,
Alexia Raven & Eric Bland
