Twelve Denver-area school superintendents are calling on the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to discontinue student quarantines for possible exposure to COVID-19 for the remainder of the spring semester, even as the number of cases across the state continues to rise driven primarily by older kids and young adults.
On Monday, district leaders including Rico Munn of Aurora Public Schools, Corey Wise of Douglas County School District and newly appointed Tracy Dorland of Jeffco Public Schools, sent a letter to the health department advocating to end quarantines, which cause disruptions to in-person learning and increase stress among students who continuously have to switch between classroom and at-home learning models, they said.
“More than a dozen Colorado school districts have been collecting data regarding in-school COVID transmission throughout the second semester, and the data show that in-school transmission remains extremely low notwithstanding the presence of COVID variants in our state and even after the transition from hybrid schooling models in mid-March to early April,” the superintendents wrote.
According to the self-reported data, more than 3,000 students have been quarantined during the last two weeks and their infection rate has been less than two-tenths of 1%, the letter said. It’s unclear if the districts required students in quarantine to be tested, but leaders such as Scott Siegfried with the Cherry Creek School District have previously told The Denver Post they could not make such a requirement.
Likewise, Adams 12 spokesperson Joe Ferdani said that district does not require quarantined student to get tested, but that it has had situations in which students were under a seven-day quarantine and in order to return to regular activities, they needed to have a negative COVID test after day five.
“As an example, in March we had 45 student athletes who had to test out of quarantine in order to compete in regional and state competitions; all 45 tested negative,” Ferdani said. “Our experience is for those students who are on quarantine and get tested, the results reflect the low level of transmission that you see in the data sheet provided.”
The superintendents estimated that if the existing quarantine rules remain in place, 10% to 20% of students could be sent home on quarantine before summer break commences.
The plea comes as cases among school-age kids and school outbreaks are increasing. On Tuesday, health officials said the largest amount of transmission is happening among residents ages 11 to 18, with the virus spreading to lesser degrees in younger children and adults. Anyone 16 years old and up is now eligible to receive the vaccine and cases are decreasing in areas of Colorado with high vaccination rates, officials said.
Earlier this month, the Douglas County School District closed five middle and high schools that each reported five or more COVID-19 outbreaks. Tri-County Health Department officials said they believed the virus was spreading within the schools or because of school-based extracurricular activities.
The superintendents had not heard back from the state health department about their request as of Wednesday afternoon, and the agency did not immediately return inquiries from The Post about the likelihood of a guidance change before the end of the semester.
“The protective health benefits for these students from quarantines have been small — and the costs to their development and academic progress have been great,” the latter said. “The stakes will grow larger as participation in graduation ceremonies and planned in-person participation in advanced placement exams becomes at risk due to quarantine requirements.”
It’s unclear whether students who are quarantined at the time of their graduation date will be allowed to attend.
The districts that signed onto the letter include Adams 12 Five Star Schools, Elizabeth School District, Mapleton School District, Jeffco Public Schools, Littleton Public Schools, 27J Schools, Aurora Public Schools, Englewood Schools, Platte Canyon School District, Cherry Creek School District, Westminster Public Schools and Douglas County School District.
Denver Public Schools, the state’s largest district, did not sign on to the letter.
