On July 28, 2021

Fall school restrictions still up in the air

By Curt Peterson

Windsor Central Unified School District superintendent Sherry Sousa told the Mountain Times last week that protocols for reopening are still up in the air, presumably due to the recent upsurge in Covid cases across the country.

“The Agency of Education [AoE] and Dept. of Health will be providing us with guidance regarding our return to school in mid-August,” Sousa wrote in an email.

On Monday, July 26, the Dept. of Health website still has wording that cancels Covid requirements for schools, effective June 14. “With Vermont’s high vaccination rates and low number of Covid-19 cases, it’s safe for most Vermonters to return to the activities they did before the pandemic. [The] vast majority of Vermonters are protected from the virus, and keep the virus from spreading to others.”

Ted Fisher, director of communications and legislative affairs for the AoE, wrote, “We do not have a guidance or other information published yet. We expect to communicate more in the near future. I can’t say whether it will be guidance (binding) or recommendations, and whether it will be issued by the AoE, by the Health department, or jointly.”

Healthvermont.gov provides current Covid statistics. As of Monday, in the past 14 days there was one positive case and 18 “recent” cases in Windsor County, and three new positive cases, 28 “recent” cases in Rutland County.

School district decision-makers such as Sousa seem to be caught in the middle, as schools pose a particular conundrum for administrations, school employees and parents.

“Because a Covid-19 vaccine is not currently available for children under 12 years old, there are a large number of unvaccinated people at schools, child care and summer camps,” the DoH advises. “Masks are recommended for unvaccinated people (age 2 years and older) when inside, throughout the summer.”

Relaxed travel and gathering restrictions around the country have inspired family trips to areas where Covid is much more of a threat. Some experts warn that children may be bringing virus infection into the schools from elsewhere as a result.

The “Delta variant,” which is highly contagious, is associated with the significant uptick among unvaccinated people in other states where vacationers may have traveled.

Sousa said the district has to just wait and see what develops between now and the first day students arrive.

“Our plan is to fully return to our previous programs following the recommendations we are given by the state,” she said.

Do you want to submit feedback to the editor?

Send Us An Email!

Related Posts

Two members, including chair, resign from the Commission on the Future of Public Education in Vermont

June 25, 2025
By Corey McDonald/VTDigger Two members of the Commission on the Future of Public Education in Vermont, including the commission’s chair, announced last week they would be resigning, saying they no longer believed their efforts would make any impact. Meagan Roy, the chair of the commission, and Nicole Mace, the former representative of the Vermont School Boards…

Vt plastic bag use dropped 91% following ban, researchers find

June 25, 2025
In the midst of 2020 Covid measures, another change took place in Vermont: A law went into effect banning businesses from offering plastic bags to customers, with paper bags only available for a fee. A 2023 analysis of a survey of hundreds of Vermonters found the law appeared to have worked. Plastic bag use in…

Pride in Rutland: Flags, resistance, and showing up

June 25, 2025
By Emily Pratt Slatin Pride returned to downtown Rutland this June with more color, noise, and purpose than ever before. What began as a joyful celebration quickly became something deeper—something that felt like resistance. And belonging. And a promise that no one in this community has to stand alone. The day kicked off with the…

Plan to manage 72,000 acres of the Telephone Gap project is finalized

June 25, 2025
Staff report The U.S. Forest Service issued its final plan for managing 72,000 acres of public and private land on June 16. The proposed Telephone Gap Integrated Resource Project area is located on the Green Mountain National Forest (GMNF) within the towns of Brandon, Chittenden, Goshen, Killington, Mendon, Pittsfield, Pittsford, and Stockbridge. “The Telephone Gap project is…