School superintendent: ‘We need help’

Nov 24, 2021  |  By Lisa Scagliotti

In both written and in-person reports to the Harwood Unified Union School District School Board last week, Superintendent Brigid Nease made it clear that the ongoing pandemic is making it increasingly challenging to keep schools open without more people willing to be substitute teachers. 

“We need to make a plea to the community. We need help,” Nease told the board at the Nov. 17 meeting. 

COVID-19 cases continue to mount across Vermont with the highest daily increases of the pandemic seen this month, dozens of people hospitalized, and deaths now numbering more than 400 since the pandemic began in March 2020. 

Cases in schools at the time of the meeting numbered 26 with 15 of those identified in November alone. Since then three more cases were added to the count as of Wednesday morning. 

Behind the scenes, Nease said, staff across all of the district’s schools are stretched to cover as teacher absences require substitutes and many regular positions remain unfilled for lack of applicants. Meanwhile, the district’s list of substitutes to draw from has shrunk to about 20 individuals with only a few willing to work when they are called. “We’re operating with five or six subs for seven campuses,” she said. 

Nease stressed that as cases emerge in students and staff, contact tracing is being done by school staff and those affected are tested. So far, those cases have not led to additional spread of the virus, giving school officials confidence that mitigation steps are effective. 

But absences are high as teachers for many reasons need to stay home, Nease explained. In some cases, teachers may be exposed to COVID at school or elsewhere; teachers may have a child who was exposed and need to stay home; teachers may also have symptoms that are not COVID but still require them to stay home. 

Those left in school are sharing the load. “Teachers, administrators, office personnel are all subbing,” Nease said. “We’re exhausted. We need folks in the community to step up to help.”

Nease urged community members to consider signing up to be a substitute even if their availability is limited to one or two days a week or if they prefer to only work in a particular school or with a certain age group of students. 

In some Vermont communities schools have closed to in-person learning due to staffing shortages and COVID cases. As winter approaches, public health officials warn of greater virus spread as people spend more time indoors. “I fear we may have to close a building due to staffing,” Nease said. 

Should that happen, state education officials have said schools will not be able to count remote learning days toward their required school year days this year. Remote days would need to be made up, Nease said. 

Nease’s update noted multiple testing strategies that schools will be using by the end of the month. Weekly voluntary surveillance testing will continue as it’s been valuable so far. Nease noted that it has picked up several cases where individuals did not have symptoms. 

Schools will also use rapid response testing to test students who are found to have symptoms while at school. And they will use the “Test to Stay” plan recommended by the state in instances where students are close contacts of someone who has tested positive. Daily rapid testing will allow those students to remain in school rather than isolate at home out of caution. 

Nease cautioned that although the testing protocols are helpful and necessary, they are labor-intensive. “Our team is exhausted physically, emotionally. People feel really depleted right now. But we’ll soldier on. We have to for our kids,” she said. 

School officials also urge families to get children vaccinated now that the vaccine has been approved for those age 5 and older. Clinics will be scheduled at schools and children also may get vaccinated at pediatric offices, pharmacies, and state clinics. Details on making vaccine appointments are online at healthvermont.gov/covid-19.

The Nov. 17 HUUSD School Board meeting was recorded and can be found on the school district YouTube channel.