The Union County school board voted Tuesday to stop COVID-19 contact tracing and quarantines beginning next week. Assistant Superintendent Jarrod McCraw said after a spike in cases when students returned from winter break, all metrics are now declining.
Board Chair Melissa Merrell said Union County commissioners also have passed a resolution supporting the move.
"It is becoming increasingly evident that this virus is not going away and we have to live with it in a way that does not unreasonably risk our children’s education and mental health," she said. "We need to support the mental and physical well-being of our students by keeping them in the classroom when they are healthy."
The state’s guidelines for schools lay out a complex set of rules for who has to quarantine after exposure to COVID-19 or isolate because they've developed symptoms or tested positive. Districts that require masks indoors, as the state recommends, have more chances to keep students without symptoms in school.
Union County is the largest North Carolina school district that has allowed staff and students to opt out of mask-wearing throughout this school year.
Board member Gary Sides noted that the new policy won't change things for students and staff who test positive or have symptoms. They'll still be expected to isolate at home.
"The safety of the students and staff is still of the utmost concern, but also the mental health and closing the learning gap," he said.
The vote was 8-1, with board member John Kirkpatrick saying it’s not wise to eliminate safety measures when the county’s positivity rate stands at 41%.
Krystyn Smith, founder of a group called SOS Union County, agrees. In a statement Wednesday she said the board "has removed the last barrier of informing and protecting the student body, their families and UCPS staff of exposure to a virulent and damaging disease." She said she will ask state health officials to intervene.
