MVCTC Parents and Guardians,

I know each of you has been subjected to the constant barrage of the media relating to the significant increase in the COVID-19 Delta variant across the United States. I have been monitoring the situation as the virus continues to move into Ohio. Unfortunately, the district has reached a point where we can no longer strongly request staff, students and visitors to wear a face mask. The MVCTC Board of Education took action on Tuesday, September 7 that, effective Monday, September 13, 2021, all staff, students and visitors will be required to wear face masks when they are in a building or riding on district transportation. The only exceptions, other than a medical disability through a written physician’s note or a religious exemption, will be when students are eating lunch or outside the buildings in the open air. Students and staff who are outside of the building and able to maintain a social distance of more than three feet are not required to wear a face mask.

To help you better understand the reasoning behind the Board’s decision, I would like to share a few key points that are currently impacting all of us.

First, staff and student safety is the most important factor to consider when making this decision. As we continue to monitor the data, it is apparent that we must require masks to help provide any advantage we can. It is no longer a situation of IF the Delta variant will impact us. It is now a situation of how well we respond to the threat that is already on our doorstep. The district has encouraged personal choice in wearing a face mask as long as it could but now there is no doubt we must act if we want to keep students and staff on campus in a face-to-face learning environment this year.

Second, the lack of substitute teachers who are willing and/or able to work in our district is already at a critical level. If we have even a few more staff members out because of quarantine or isolation, we will not be able to fully staff the school. This becomes a safety issue and could eventually cause us to not physically hold classes here at MVCTC.

Third, if enough of our students and/or staff are in quarantine or isolation, we will have to return to virtual learning. All of our teaching staff pulled together last year and made virtual learning happen, but there are very few who are eager to return to this instructional methodology. Kids need to be at school and we want to do all that we can to ensure that they are for the remainder of the 2021-22 school year. The chart below is from the Ohio Department of Health and is what MVCTC uses to determine if a student or staff member is quarantined. As you can see on the flowchart, students and staff members that are masked, even if they are not vaccinated, will not be required to quarantine if they are exposed to an individual with COVID-19. This will dramatically reduce the number of students and staff who may potentially be quarantined and means that fewer students will miss school for an extended period of time.

Vaccination continues to be the preferred method of reducing the impact of COVID-19 but that continues to be a personal choice for each student and staff member.

Fourth, even with the current number of suspected or positive cases right now, the district can’t keep up with the complex and time-consuming process of contact tracing. We are not receiving any help from the county health department to contact trace our students. With the current number of COVID-19 cases, we are not able to keep up with this requirement, let alone if we have any increase in positive cases. As of Tuesday, September 7, we have brought in additional support for the district nurse, but this is not a long-term solution. The best thing we can do is to reduce the number of students and staff who need to be quarantined because they were not masked.

In closing, MVCTC is off to a solid start this school year but COVID-19 definitely has the potential to derail our plans to offer face-to-face instruction all year long. Our best strategy at this point in time is to require face masks of all students, staff and visitors to help reduce the potential spread of COVID-19 and greatly reduce the number of individuals who would be required to quarantine. I know the Board’s decision will not please everyone, but it is currently our best option to ensure students remain at school where we all know they learn best.

As always, thank you for your flexibility and understanding. Please know that the decisions we make are to provide the safest and most effective learning environment for your child. I appreciate your continued support of MVCTC. If you have any questions or need clarification, please feel free to email QUESTIONS@MVCTC.COM. You may also find a copy of this letter on the district's website along with the medical and religion-based exemption forms.