Consideration of emergency measures to best address and/or mitigate the COVID-19 positivity uptick for students and employees in Sarasota County schools and those who visit or conduct business with it.

JUSTIFICATION OF IMMEDIATE DANGER TO BYPASS NORMAL POLICY MAKING PROCESS:

SPECIFIC REASONS FOR FINDING AN IMMEDIATE DANGER TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH, SAFETY, OR WELFARE: 

Because a recent increase in COVID-19 infections - largely due to the spread of the COVID-19 delta variant - coincided with the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year for K-12 public school students in Sarasota County, it was necessary for the School Board of Sarasota County to conduct a school board workshop to discuss the implementation of emergency measures in order to ensure adherence to the fundamental Constitutional obligation to provide a uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system of public schools that allow students to obtain a high quality education.

At its August 17, 2021 school board workshop, the School Board of Sarasota County heard testimony from witnesses that it deems authoritative and credible and to which it relies upon as its factual basis: (1) for the existence of an immediate emergency and immediate danger sufficient to bypass the normal policy-making process and (2) to enact emergency modifications to the previously enacted 2021-2022 Face Mask Policy at an emergency meeting called by the School Board.

At the August 17, 2021 workshop, Michael Drennon, the Disease Intervention Services Program Manager at the Florida Department of Health in Sarasota County testified that as of August 16, 2021, the COVID-19 positivity rate in Sarasota County was 14.41%, the seven-day average COVID-19 positivity rate in Sarasota County was 14.69%, and the fourteen-day average COVID-19 positivity rate in Sarasota County was 14.03%.  These averages are well in excess of the positivity rates at the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year in Sarasota County.  Mr. Drennon testified that on August 16, 2021, 62 individuals age 5-18 tested positive for COVID-19 in Sarasota County and that the seven-day average for individuals in this age range who were positive for COVID-19 in Sarasota County was 51.5/day.  These figures for school age children are well in excess of the positivity figures at the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year in Sarasota County.  Mr. Drennon testified that as of August 16, 2021, 325 individuals were hospitalized in three Sarasota County hospitals combined who were admitted because of COVID-19 and approximately 90% of those hospitalized were unvaccinated.  This number of hospitalized individuals was the highest amount that had been recorded since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Mr. Drennon testified that the incubation period for the COVID-19 delta variant was 2-10 days with an average incubation period of 5 days.  Mr. Drennon testified that in the 12-19 age range in Sarasota County as of August 16, 2021, the number of individuals who had been vaccinated with one shot was only 44% and the number of individuals who were fully vaccinated was only 30%.

At the August 17, 2021 workshop, Dr. Manuel Gordillo, M.D., an infectious disease specialist testified that as of August 17, 2021, 240 individuals were hospitalized at Sarasota Memorial Hospital, with more than 50 such individuals in that hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU), the majority of which were on ventilators.  Dr. Gordillo indicated that COVID-19 was creating extreme pressure and stress at Sarasota Memorial Hospital, causing hospital staff exhaustion, and described the recent COVID-19 situation in Sarasota County as a “public health crisis”.  Dr. Gordillo testified that Sarasota Memorial Hospital currently has staffing problems with no current ability to augment staffing and no pool to draw from to currently augment staffing.  Dr. Gordillo stated that “now is the worst of the [COVID-19] pandemic in Florida and Sarasota” and that it is a “dire difficult situation” and “the worst it has been in the last 18 months”.  Dr. Gordillo urged parents to utilize all mitigation measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, including heeding public health advice, using masks, social distancing, avoiding crowds, and getting vaccinated.  Dr. Gordillo testified that the delta variant is more transmissible than previous COVID-19 variants and is “as contagious as the Chicken Pox from a transmissibility standpoint”.  Dr. Gordillo testified that it is easier for the virus to infect unvaccinated people and masks are a tool to mitigate this transmissible virus.  Dr. Gordillo indicated that the COVID-19 numbers “absolutely” justify the School Board in taking emergency action and that “all need to make sacrifices during a crisis to get us out of a hole”.  Dr. Gordillo testified that an acute crisis currently exists that is unpredictable and that no one knows how long it will last.

At the August 17, 2021 workshop, Dr. Brennan Asplen, the Superintendent of the Sarasota County School District, testified that so far this school year – due largely to no remote school option and more people moving to Sarasota County – there were more children in Sarasota County schools.  Dr. Asplen testified that his number one priority was creating a safe environment for students and staff.  Dr. Asplen testified that the recent spike in COVID-19 has strained school operations.  Dr. Asplen indicated a big concern was quarantining of students and staff due to contacting tracing.  Dr. Asplen testified that 30-40 individuals could be quarantined at a time based on one Covid-19 positive individual and that 30+ employees/day were quarantined this week (August 15 and August 16).  Dr. Asplen testified that staff shortages caused by the number of employees quarantined was causing difficulty in tasks such as getting students to schools and serving lunches. 

At the August 17, 2021 workshop, Jody Dumas, the Sarasota County School District’s Assistant Superintendent Chief Operations Officer, testified that vacancies when combined with the absences caused by COVID-19 and other reasons are making it so the school district cannot fulfill services.  Mr. Dumas testified that to fulfill operations, the school district is pulling from other areas to meet services needs but that the pool of employees to pull from is only so deep.  Mr. Dumas testified that shortages in custodial services, food services, and transportation was creating a situation where it is difficult for the school to meet service levels and that the school district was only a few vacancies away from things such as kids getting to school late due to relying on “double runs” of busses due to staffing shortages.

Accordingly, pursuant to the mandate in Florida Statute 1001.42(8) that it provide for proper attention to health, safety, and other matters related to the welfare of students, the School Board of Sarasota County endeavors to enact an emergency modification to its existing mask policy to encourage a safe and effective in-person learning environment for Sarasota County’s school children during the upcoming school year, to prevent the unnecessary removal of students from schools, and to safeguard the rights of parents and children.  To effectively do so, an emergency meeting is necessary.

Because of the importance of in-person learning to educational, social, emotional, and mental wellbeing, removing healthy students from the classroom for lengthy quarantines shall be limited at all costs.  To protect students and their wellbeing, it is necessary to immediately pass a modified mask rule to protect the in-person education of children.

REASONS FOR CONCLUDING THAT THE PROCEDURE IS FAIR UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES:

This emergency modification to the 2021-2022 Face Mask policy is necessary in light of the recent rise in COVID-19 cases in Sarasota County as this school year commences.  Given the need for as many students to be in classrooms and learn from in-person learning as possible during the next four weeks of the 2021-2022 school year, there is insufficient time to adopt the policy modification through the non-emergency process.  Further, the School Board has satisfied the requirements of Florida Statute 286.0114 when – after its Chairperson announced the intent to conduct a forthcoming emergency meeting regarding masks – the School Board provided members of the public with more than three hours to be heard via public comment on the matter.  Then the School Board announced it would hold its actual emergency meeting more than 67 hours later on August 20, 2021 at 3 PM.  The School Board published this agenda and an emergency rule draft in advance of the emergency meeting.  The School Board plans to permit additional public comment prior to taking action at the scheduled August 20, 2021 emergency meeting.  The emergency meeting is scheduled to take place in the same location that the School Board regularly conducts its meetings.  These procedures comply with Sarasota County School Board Policy 2.22 regarding emergency meetings.

PLEASE NOTE THAT if any person decides to appeal any matter considered or action taken at the August 20, 2021 emergency meeting, he or she will need a record of the proceedings and that, for such purposes, he or she will need to ensure that a verbatim record of the proceedings is made, which record includes the testimony and evidence upon which the appeal is based.