Quarantine policy for COVID in La Crosse schools is called unfair

La Crosse’s public schools may be discriminating against children who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19, according to one parent who spoke to the school board Monday night. 

Carrie Jones says the public hasn’t been asked about a reported policy change, requiring unvaccinated students who get COVID symptoms to be quarantined, while vaccinated students are not.

“The school’s quarantine policy says nothing about testing these vaccinated students after an exposure,” says Jones. “If our school is going to follow the CDC guidance for quarantine, then why are we only following certain parts of this guidance, and not all of the guidance?”    

Jones calls the rule to quarantine kids who didn’t get the vaccine “punitive” and “discriminatory.” She was the only member of the public to comment on COVID rules at the meeting.

The school board also learned that enrollment in the district is expected to be down more than 150 students from last fall. 

The district is waiting for the traditional “third Friday in September” student counts, taken just last week. 

The board has been told that the estimated student count for this fall is 6083, down 163 from the fall of 2020. 

As a result of the anticipated drop, the district could lose some government funding.  The board also is waiting for property value figures to be released next month, and plans to have a budget hearing for this school year on October 18th.