The official return of in person has had it’s bumps; parents, students, staff and community members all have opinions they want to voice, school board meetings give them the perfect opportunity to express their concerns to people who have the power to change the rules.

During the October 20th meeting parents and community members brought up concerns about COVID-19 regulations and “Love Has No Gender” posters.

The first topic brought up was the district COVID-19 policies. Last year, the school board was focused on the “safety of all staff and students,” Bruce Richards, the president of the school board, said.

This year, students are fully in person with the protection of masks, contact tracing and strict COVID-19 testing policies. When a student tests positive for COVID-19 they are required to quarantine immediately and contact the school. From there administrators find out who has been in direct contact with said student (this includes anyone who sits behind, in front of, or next to the infected student). Anyone in the same class but not in direct contact gets an email explaining that they have had indirect contact with COVID-19. Any non-vaccinated direct student is then required to quarantine and have a negative test.

In November the district is moving to a Test To Stay program. This means that non-vaccinated students who are directly exposed to COVID-19 can take rapid antigen tests every two days at the school instead of having to quarantine. Although any non-vaccinated student in the Test To Stay program may not go to their scheduled after school activities.

This allows non-vaccinated students to stay in school and not have to worry about the possible inequality of having to move from fully in person to remote learning.

While staff and the school board feels this is the best possible solution for recent COVID-19 exposures, parents who spoke at the meeting found the board’s policies ridiculous.

“I’m not sure y’all are aware of the Kitsap County Health District, and their statistics for COVID related deaths,” a parent during the public comment said. “And if you look at the statistics, since March of 2021 there have been zero deaths of anyone under the age of 29, and then there is 8 deaths of 80 and older.”

While some of the parents agree that students shouldn’t be required to wear masks at school, the board was steadfast in the mask mandate and the new Test To Stay program.

Also talked about at the meeting was a “Love Has No Gender” poster that got taken down from an elementary school classroom.

A spokesperson from Q Youth Resources spoke during the public comment section of the meeting about statements and a communication the organization had with officials at CKSD.

“We left this meeting troubled by CKSDs lack of a formal process for a decision that has wide ranging implications for their LGBTQ staff and families,” the spokesperson said. “ This issue now extends well beyond the removal of one poster and CKSD needs to take this issue seriously.

“Administrators were described to us as reaching their decision by quote ‘informal discussions’  in which they felt the poster and LGBTQ identity words were inappropriate,” they continued.

In an interview Bruce Richards talks about his feelings on the “Love Has No Gender” poster.

“I think that the district and certainly my beliefs are all students are accepted for who they are,” Richards said. “It’s just not all parents agree to that, it’s like sex education in our schools, parents have the opportunity to opt out if they choose. So if you have a poster in a room and a parent doesn’t agree with it, they don’t have an option to opt out. And so we are going to err on the side of being more conservative to protect our families and our students.”

Richards was also made aware of the fact that some of the teachers at Central Kitsap High School (CKHS) are hanging up these posters as a protest against it being taken down.

“In the high school it’s appropriate. I think it sends a good message for the students in the high school, I mean we should be accepting of all people so that’s okay,” Richards said. “I wasn’t aware that the staff is supporting students in that way.”

The next school board meeting will be November 3 at 6:00 pm.