PLEASE PROTECT OUR COMMUNITY

We, the concerned parents and community of The Covenant School, are urging the leadership of The Covenant School to reconsider its position allowing mask choice in our school. Our community needs to prioritize health, safety, and in-person learning and follow the recommendations of trusted medical and public health experts. We are asking that our community stand behind Covenant’s long-touted I AM THIRD teachings, placing “self” last.  While we realize there are some parents that support mask choice, we ask that you put our children and our community health over the wishes of individuals.

In the email dated January 21, 2022, the leadership at Covenant stated that the school is choosing to follow Governor Youngkin’s executive order requiring mask choice in schools, as it had followed the recommendations of all executive orders to date. However, private schools are not bound by executive orders unless Virginia is in a declared State of Emergency (Virginia State Code &44-146.17, Section 11, Effective until July 1, 2023, https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/44-146.17/ ). The State of Emergency ended on July 1, 2021. Following the Code of Virginia, Covenant is not required to comply with mask choice in schools. To be clear, Covenant is choosing to comply. Many other private schools in Virginia are choosing to still require masks to protect their students and the community.

The recommendations of the CDC, the VDH, the BRHD and the VA-AAP that the leadership at Covenant, as well as our Medical Advisory team, referenced to establish previous school policy addressing mitigation efforts did not change with the executive order. With the current surge with the more transmissible Omicron variant, the recommendations from these trusted sources are becoming even more stringent;  recommending, for example, N95 masks over ineffective cloth masks. Please note that:

1. At present the VA Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (VA-AAP) has issued a statement opposing the Governor’s executive order and “strongly recommending all children, regardless of vaccination status wear a well-fitting mask while attending school” (https://www.cbs19news.com/story/45686467/pediatricians-say-children-should-continue-wearing-masks-in-school

2. Most current public health guidance, including the CDC, also continues to recommend universal indoor masking “by all students (ages 2 years and older), staff, teachers, and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status”. The full guidance is available here (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/k-12-guidance.html 

3. The Blue Ridge Health Department (BRHD) newsletter dated Jan 21, 2022 (https://myemail.constantcontact.com/BRHD-Update--News-1-21-2022.html?soid=1134059434350&aid=UQarurCfL2k states our district is in the highest level of Covid spread in our community since the pandemic began almost 2 years ago (over 800 new cases on 1/21/22--the same day Covenant changed the health policy to no longer require masks). The executive order guidelines also suggest that community and school transmission rates are taken into account when making masking decisions. Our community is currently in the highest risk category as designated by the VDH.  We should be helping to lower transmission rates rather than potentially adding to the burden on our community testing sites, doctor’s offices and hospitals. 

4. The BRHD highlighted the importance of masking in their January 14, 2022 newsletter (https://myemail.constantcontact.com/BRHD-Update--News-1-14-2022.html?soid=1134059434350&aid=yVOAV6kvoqU The guidance here in the “Mask Up!” section recommends higher-quality masks such as N95s at this time, per the CDC. This is the exact opposite of what Covenant is doing to keep our children and community safe.

If the leadership at Covenant chooses to follow the executive order to allow parental choice in masking, it is the leadership’s responsibility to also implement all, not some, of the mitigation strategies for school safety in the executive order guidelines. Covenant’s updated health policy was implemented prior to and without consideration of the Governor’s recommendations of 1/21/22 (https://www.governor.virginia.gov/media/governorvirginiagov/governor-of-virginia/pdf/EO2-Guidelines.pdf  which state that “with freedom comes responsibility” and clarifies the roles of community members mitigating the spread of COVID.  According to a January 21 press release from the Governor's Office, "the updated guidance is redesigned around Governor Youngkin’s key principles of parental rights, keeping kids in the classroom five days a week, and keeping kids safe and healthy. The updated guidelines emphasize alternative mitigation measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19 including vaccination, distancing, and outbreak awareness. Provide a clear decision tree for parents to review when trying to determine how to keep and return children to the classroom. Strongly encourage test-to-stay and other strategies to keep and return kids to the classroom as quickly as possible. Give schools practicable flexibility on contact tracing, distancing, and other strategies" (https://www.governor.virginia.gov/news-releases/2022/january/name-924074-en.html). Further, the VDH guidelines that accompany the executive order include 1) vaccination 2) staying home and getting tested when sick 3) physical distancing 4) prioritizing disease investigations and/or disease notifications to the community  5) implementing “Test to Stay” programs and requiring frequent testing, at least once weekly and more for certain sports  (high contact sports are recommended to be canceled during high spread in the community to protect in-person learning) 6) increased ventilation 7) hygiene/respiratory etiquette 8) clean facilities and 9) masks as prevention priorities. If the leadership at Covenant chooses to follow the executive order, we urge you to adopt and require all of the mitigation recommendations issued with the executive order. 

If masks are no longer required, other mitigation strategies must be strengthened, rather than weakened, to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in our school. The BRHD updated their Isolation and Quarantine Guidelines on January 7, 2022 going beyond the 5 day quarantine suggested by the CDC based on local high levels of infection and lasting infection periods, They recommend that schools continue to follow the 10 day period (https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/content/uploads/sites/196/2022/01/Jan-2022-school-q-and-iso-guidelines-BRHD.pdf which Covenant is not currently following.  The definition of fully vaccinated is also important to reduce transmission due to waning immunities in those without booster shots. The CDC authorized boosters for anyone age 12 and older on January 8, 2022.  At this time, everyone over 12 should be boosted to qualify for “Fully Vaccinated” status in the health policies, per BRHD on Jan 12, 2022. In addition, the new policy of no longer updating the community about positive school cases seems reckless. The executive order guidelines clearly state that schools should "prioritize disease investigations and/or notifications of disease to school community." 

Covenant’s updated Health Policy allowing mask choice does not protect everyone in our community and creates an unsafe environment for some.  After the change in masking policy, the leadership at Covenant sent individual communications to some parents requesting that they consider masking in certain classrooms for the health and safety of staff members who are immunocompromised, affirming that the new policy is not safe. The same consideration should be given to all staff, all students, all families, and all members of the community.  There are many students, teachers and family members who are also more susceptible to illness or even death, and we should place them over “self.” Additionally, the long-term effects of this disease are unknown, but scientific data is currently suggesting significant detrimental effects for some.  As a Christian community, and as kind humans, it is our duty to protect our friends and neighbors. 

With freedom comes responsibility and caring for our community’s health and safety should remain our top priority. Prior to the executive order, Covenant’s successful mitigation strategies included mandatory indoor masking and should be continued. We are confident that Covenant’s leadership and parents will once again follow all recommended mitigation efforts, stand behind our beloved I AM THIRD motto, and put our children and greater community first.

Sincerely,

Concerned Members of the Covenant School Community