The state does not require testing for in-state travel, so the Petersburg School District decided to come up with its own policy for staff and students. The policy mirrors the state’s mandate for out-of-state travel requiring five days of isolation in addition to at least one negative test result.
Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter said she supported the new requirement because of the rising COVID numbers around the state.
“Everything we’re doing is trying to do the very best that we can to keep our kids in school,” said Kludt-Painter. “It’s not perfect — this is not perfect. I keep thinking of it as a sieve, a little colander. There are still little leaks all over the place, but we are doing the very best we can with the information we have.”
The policy is for travel by any means off Mitkof Island — by plane, boat or ferry. It strongly recommends a second test after one week of isolation, but that’s not required for returning to school. There is also an option for a two-week quarantine instead of testing.
Initially, Board Member Jay Lister wasn’t sold on the policy because he said he didn’t want to confuse the public with more rules.
“I worry a little bit about the confusion,” he said. “You’ve got all these different travel restrictions from all these different places and you’re trying to figure out who is supposed to quarantine where. You’ve got six different set of rules.”
Board Member Megan Litster said the policy would actually make it easier on people because all the travel requirements would be the same for in-state and out-of-state travel.
“By us implementing this, it would actually smooth that out a little bit because it would make it consistent for the school across the board,” said Litster.
Board President Sarah Holmgrain said she received a lot of feedback from the community supporting a new policy. She said she supported it because it would help keep the schools open and could prevent problems if people aren’t being careful.
“If you had a whole family that left and had kids in multiple grades and didn’t follow the protocols and came back in, then you have potentially all three schools shut down,” said Holmgrain.
The policy includes an exemption for travel under 72 hours like the state’s policy for out-of-state travel does. That addition helped gain the support of two school board members — Cheryl File and Katie Holmlund — who were concerned about medical trips for staff and students.
The 72-hour exemption would also cover short travel by school groups or others doing personal trips.
Kludt-Painter said that she didn’t think the school district should monitor small boat trips to nearby communities.
“So if someone is leaving to go on a hunting trip to Prince of Wales Island somewhere on their own boat, I’m not particularly interested in managing that,” she said.
The school board also discussed testing availability in Petersburg. Same-day rapid tests are limited to people with symptoms and some travelers. There is a shortage of rapid testing equipment all over the country, and the Petersburg Medical Center cannot get as much as it wants.
PMC’s other test results currently have a three-to-five-day turnaround time. Asymptomatic testing through SEARHC on the weekends has a four-to-five-day turnaround.
The new school board policy is an administrative regulation, which means it went into effect immediately and can be changed much more quickly than regular board policies. The board plans to review it every few weeks.
