On January 31, 2022, the Essex County School Board voted to approve a motion cancelling all current COVID-19 prevention strategies in the county’s schools during a special meeting. The motion was made by Scott Croxton, a member representing the Greater Tappahannock District. The motion was approved by the Essex County School Board 3:2. The Board members who voted to approve the motion were Scott Croxton, Michael Wind, and Andrea Sydnor. Board Chair Raymond Whitaker, and Vice Chair Garlyn Bundy voted against the motion.
We ask the Essex County School Board to commit to the health and safety of all students, teachers, and staff within the Essex County Public School system by immediately restoring the school division’s COVID-19 mitigation strategies and protocols. Mitigation strategies include but are not limited to masking, temperature checks, testing, quarantining, social distancing, contact tracing, and specialized cleaning on buses, within the schools, and in all school facilities. We request the Essex County School Board use all available resources to improve the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems at Tappahannock Elementary School, Essex Intermediate School, and Essex High School.
Why is this important?
The health and safety of the Essex County Public School students, teachers and staff is of the utmost importance. Essex County Public Schools had to release students early on February 4, 2022, due to a staff shortage. Many teachers and staff members believe the learning environment is unsafe and do not want to put themselves at risk of contracting COVID-19. An Essex High School student was sent to the principal on February 3, 2022, after a teacher discovered a flyer organizing a student walkout. The flyer read, “Covid-19 is real. We lost too many lives," and asked students to walk out for 16 minutes in honor of the 16,412 people who lost their lives due COVID-19 in Virginia. A parent of a special needs student who is nonverbal and wheelchair bound, said she took her daughter out of school because of health and safety concerns. Signing this petition is important because we cannot allow elected officials to put the health and safety of our children and community at-risk. By prematurely ending COVID-19 mitigation strategies and protocols, the school district is unable to provide a safe environment for students to receive a free appropriate public education.
