The Wrangell School Board met Monday evening, Aug. 17. During the meeting, the board adopted a mandate requiring face masks be worn on district property.
According to the mandate, masks must be worn while indoors, before entering buildings, before entering or leaving enclosed personal work areas, when walking to or from one's vehicle, or in other cases when social distancing of 6 feet cannot be maintained.
There are some exceptions to the mandate. Masks will not be necessary, when social
distancing is in place, in wet conditions. Some examples provided in the mandate include while working outside in the rain, or on the playground, or while using a power washer. Masks will also not be required while performing strenuous physical activities, when alone in an enclosed personal work space, in one's car, while eating, or when walking to or from one's car when other people are not present.
Before approving the mandate, the board did amend it to read that masks must be worn on school "property," not on school "grounds," to be more encompassing.
"As a whole, as a country we seem to be steering this to a political issue, not a public health issue," said Board President Aaron Angerman. "On a local level I know our borough has recommended mask usage, as has the CDC. So for us to come through and cement this means a lot to me."
The guidelines for mask wearing in the school district can be found on their website, http://www.wpsd.us.
The board also reviewed a list of expenses the district plans to make via CARES Act funding. The school district received $250,000 in CARES Act money from the City and Borough of Wrangell in July. No action was taken regarding the proposed use of the money, it was simply to share information with the board and the public. Among some of the planned uses of the
funding is $1,000 for Plexiglass from Ottesen's, $2,000 for touch-free hand sanitizer, $29,000 for a health aide, and two $26,000 entries for custodial aides, among others.
The board did have questions on some planned expenses. For example, Board Member David Wilson wanted to know why the district planned to spend $1,000 on whistles. Superintendent Debbe Lancaster said that was a mistake, the whistles had been double-entered. The district was really only paying $500 for a bulk order of whistles. This was a good deal, she said, and will be for practically anyone in the district who needs one. This includes sports coaches, P.E. instructors, and others.
"The order was around $500, I believe that includes shipping," Lancaster said. "Anybody that's ever used a whistle, it does get some buildup in it. I don't want to get too graphic here but you do want to be able to have some on hand, and you certainly cannot share whistles."
Another item discussed in the meeting was hiring difficulties the district is facing. Lancaster said that the district currently has about 13 unfilled positions. So far, she said, it has proven challenging to find people to fill these positions. They have only had a few applicants as of the meeting. Lancaster added that some people who worked in these positions, previously, are not reapplying this year due to health concerns. Kim Powell, with the district, expanded on this. She said that it is not a question of the district not offering enough money, according to a study she did. She has also spoken to several businesses across Wrangell, and said they told her they were struggling to find new hires, as well. It just seems to be a bad time to find new workers, Powell said.
"This does not seem isolated to us," she said.
"It sounds like a shortage of applicants community-wide."
During the meeting, the board also discussed how the schools intend to monitor the health of students when they come back to in-person classes, and also approved of various grants. Before adjourning, they held an executive session regarding an early graduation request from a student.
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