Despite a threat of potential legal action by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, one Union County school board member says he has no plans to change his vote over ending quarantining and contact tracing by the schools.
On Monday, the Union County Board of Education voted to end a policy that left thousands of students and staff out of school because of possible exposure to the coronavirus. The school district does not require people to wear masks indoors, as almost all other districts in North Carolina do, to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.
"I am not going to be a part of a process that brings us back to where thousands upon thousands of students, staff, administrators, workers, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, are home. That's untenable," Union County school board member Rev. Jimmy Bention said.
Bention made the motion Monday to do away with the policies and bring those students and staff back to school.
On Wednesday, DHHS Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen sent a letter to the Union County Board of Education urging the board to reverse its vote on the policy or face "legal action," giving a deadline of 5 p.m. Friday.
"On Sept. 13, 2021, the Union County Board of Education passed a motion to immediately halt all activity of contact tracing and quarantine by Union County School staff and nurses and called for the immediate return of all students who were excluded from school because of COVID-19 exposure," DHHS said in a statement this week.
"However, all schools must comply with control measures prescribed by North Carolina law, including the exclusion of students, teachers and staff subject to isolation or quarantine requirements. Failure to adhere to such control measures poses an immediate and substantial threat to the health and safety of students and staff, their families and the community and may result in legal action," DHHS said.
Bention, who made the motion to end quarantine and isolation, said the school system will continue to send home students and staff who have COVID-19 symptoms, but not those who may have been exposed.
"I could not sit idly by and have over 7,000 students and personnel out of school," Bention said.
DHHS and Gov. Roy Cooper released guidelines for schools over the summer, which call for everyone on campus to wear masks indoors and laid out quarantine rules for people who may have been exposed. The guidelines called for mask mandates inside school buildings, but the governor left it up to each school district to decide for itself on mask rules.
Bention said the county health department will be in charge of ordering students into quarantine and contact tracing, not the school system.
"It does fall with the health director, locally, and the state health director," he said.
"Our job is the make sure sick people are home and healthy people are in the classroom," Bention said. If a student tests positive for the coronavirus, it will be up to the health department if an entire classroom has to be out of school for 10 to 14 days.
"We want to make sure that the sick are taken care of, but also the healthy are taken care of," he said. "If they're not sick, why are they going home?"
He said the county health department will be in charge of any contact tracing and quarantine orders.
"We're sending folks home to see if they get sick," Bention said. If students or staff don't have symptoms of COVID-19, they will not be sent home, Bention said. However, one of the early hallmarks of the coronavirus was people with no symptoms spread the virus, worsening the pandemic.
He said the school board plans to send a letter to respond to DHHS but has no plans to meet before the 5 p.m. deadline.