The Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Education on Tuesday night adopted a change to its COVID testing policy.
On a unanimous vote, the school board approved COVID testing to continue for symptomatic staff. The district will no longer test all the unvaccinated staff on a weekly basis, as it had started in its testing program.
The district could no longer continue its testing of all unvaccinated employees due to challenges with the laboratory, according to Superintendent Anna Stubblefield.
There will be rapid testing, nasal only, for symptomatic staff and students at all sites by March 7, according to the testing recommendations presented by Tiffany Lewis, director of health services for the district. They will have enough tests for symptomatic persons, according to district officials. PCR tests, nasal or saliva, would need to be completed at an offsite testing facility.
The district will continue to encourage staff vaccinations, and will offer additional disability days that are prorated according to the current testing policy, Lewis said.
Lewis reported that 74.5 percent of the district’s staff are now vaccinated with at least two shots. About 24 percent of the staff have not submitted anything as proof of vaccinations.
The change in testing policy was discussed at a previous meeting and a recommendation was brought back to the Feb. 22 meeting for a vote.
There was no change to the district’s masking policy at the meeting. District staff and students are required to wear masks.
Earlier in the meeting, during the community comment period, David Seume asked the board to discontinue the masking policy, citing school districts in other counties in the Kansas City area that had discontinued masks.
Seume, who has spoken about the same topic at four KCK school board meetings so far, pointed out that some district officials and board members had taken off their masks to speak briefly during a previous meeting. He then took off his mask while at the podium, speaking to the board. At that point, Board President Randy Lopez asked him to put his mask on, and when Seume did not, Lopez hit the gavel and called a five-minute recess in the meeting.
Board member Wanda Brownlee Paige later said that the other school districts that ended masks were in areas that had different COVID rates. The Wyandotte County rate is still considered high by the CDC, and the Health Department recommended continuing masks, according to board members.
In other action at the meeting, which lasted more than 3.5 hours, school starting times were discussed again. Dr. Stubblefield said now there are not any plans to change school start times.
The school district explored that possibility earlier as a way to provide transportation to middle school students, and also because of shortages of bus drivers. The district had an online program to hear parents’ responses. But overwhelming response from parents and staff was against changing school start times.
After discussion, Dr. Stubblefield said she would come back with more information in two areas, exploring 4:30 p.m. buses and activities for secondary students, and also to bring to the board a proposal about what reimbursement at the middle school level could look like for parents whose children live 1 to 1.5 miles from school. No action on it was taken at the Feb. 22 meeting.
Also, the board discussed a plan to hold summer school in June, using federal Esser funds for it.
During the discussion, Dr. Valdenia Winn, a board member, questioned whether the Esser 3 funds were already decided without much input from the school board. Dr. Stubblefield said that these plans were still in the information stage, and could all be changed if the board wanted it.
The school board also heard an update on plans for a new Main Library building, which has stalled out for a few years.
No action was taken on Feb. 22, but Carol Levers, library director, received the board’s approval to provide more information and updates on the project. She discussed a possible grant availability.
In other action, members of a school boundary committee were approved.