Currently, Patrick County Public Schools follow quarantine policies for all students and staff who either test positive for Covid-19 or who are deemed to have been "in close contact" with an individual who has tested positive for Covid-19.  The policies were put in place as a mitigation strategy to stop the transmission of Covid-19 amongst students, faculty, and staff at all PC schools.  However, we believe that the unintended consequences of these policies for the students and staff far outweigh the potential benefits.  Students are missing school at an alarming rate; some students are out for 3 days, some 7, some even 14 days!  Some students have had this forced quarantine happen to them multiple times resulting in upwards of 21 days of school missed! We can surely understand the reasoning behind quarantining if you are sick, but if a child is not sick, is not showing any symptoms of sickness, has a negative covid-19 test and looks to be in perfectly good health we believe there is no reason why this student should be forced to miss school! 

Teachers and staff members are also suffering from the quarantine policies.  Teachers and staff who have not been vaccinated are forced to quarantine for longer periods of time than those who have been vaccinated.  Alarmingly, they are forced to use their paid leave time and if they don’t have enough paid leave, they are forced to quarantine as unpaid leave.  We believe this is unacceptable and should be amended immediately! Those who work in the schools do it for the kids. They should not be forced to take unpaid leave for any reason.  Our teachers in Patrick County are worth more than that! 

It is also our belief that these quarantine policies are not backed up by any verifiable data that would prove the effectiveness of the policies.  Are students who are being forced to quarantine because they were in close contact with a positive case at lunch, or in school, actually testing positive themselves?  What about all the emerging data from the CDC and public health officials that clearly state the vaccines do not prevent transmission?  This completely removes the need for different quarantine standards for the vaccinated vs. unvaccinated.  We believe the school board, local public health officials, and local government leaders are not tracking the data and therefore have NO IDEA if the policies are actually effective or not.  For us, that is not the due diligence you would expect to support asking a student to miss 14 days of school or a teacher to take unpaid leave!

As concerned parents and citizens of Patrick County, we are petitioning the Patrick County School Board to make a motion to amend the quarantine policies and end this nightmare for parents and students who are forced to miss school when they are not sick at all!  We can follow the lead of surrounding counties that have less strict guidance yet are following the same CDC and VDH recommendations. 

Join US RIGHT NOW and sign your name asking the Patrick School Board to make a motion and amend these policies as soon as possible!  

Let's keep the kids in school.

Let's keep the teachers in the classroom.

Let's use factual data, common sense, and sound judgement to write new policies that better serve our schools, the students, and the staff!