Ludington School Board Chooses Superintendent Finalists, Hears Concerns

[XLFD]

Throughout Monday afternoon and evening, the Ludington School Board held a special meeting with a few purposes.  Primarily they were there to review the candidates for superintendent who applied for the position,   They would do this after a lengthy closed session, a session where they also reviewed two disciplinary hearings for students. 

In the early part of the meeting they would also decide whether to modify their quarantine process for students who are identified as close contacts to positive Covid cases and are asymptomatic.  This was passed unanimously, such students and staff will now have the option to test negative by rapid antigen testing each school day prior to attending class for 7 days past the date of their last exposure, instead of the alternative quarantine for two weeks. 

While it will be effectively unclear to the general public what were the facts and disposition of the student disciplinary hearings held in the closed session, the board did announce the three finalists to be the next superintendent, they are:

Kyle Corlette, superintendent of Delton-Kellogg Schools

William Roderick, senior director of student services, Lakeport, California

Jason Misner, (pictured below) superintendent of Parchment School District

In two more open special meetings where the public is invited, Corlette will be interviewed next Tuesday at 5 PM, Roderick and Misner will be interviewed next Monday beginning at 5 PM.  Like this meeting, the interviews will be held at the administrative office boardroom at 809 E Tinkham.

Each candidate has prior experience as teachers and principals, with Corlette having the additional distinction of losing out to Ludington's former Superintendent Jason Kennedy when they both applied to be Fruitport's next superintendent and were finalists.  None of them appear to have any controversies in their past careers that might taint their brand.  They will likely take over the position at the beginning of next year if everything goes according to schedule at about the same time the new elementary will be ready.

At this late-called special meeting in the close-quarters of the administrative boardroom, about a half dozen concerned citizens and parents showed up.  A couple of those would speak up.  One was a father of a senior at LHS who related a personal story of the difficulties he has had with the school district's mitigation policies, primarily with the intrusive aspects of regular testing just for his son to participate in the football program and other activities.  For him and many other parents of local high school students who are in sports or in advanced learning programs it's a very hard decision to make to either comply with the odd protocols local schools burden students with or yank them out of the craziness.  His wife is a member of our sister group on Facebook, the Ludington Pitchfork (she posted about this meeting being held), so perhaps she can share that comment with a larger audience.

His speech ran about 5-6 minutes and may have wore a little on the patience of the board chairman, who knew they had a long night ahead of them.  I would be the only other member of the public to speak, with a comment that was only a little over two minutes long, after which the board voted to go into closed session to discuss the two disciplinary issues and review applicants:

XLFD:  "I was emotionally touched by the twenty or so LHS students who peacefully protested outside the auditorium before the last board meeting for their right to choose whether to mask up or not.  When the six young ladies from LHS commented at the beginning of the meeting, delivering a message of mental anguish, physical agony, and spiritual suffering, I can only hope it emotionally touched each of you at least half of what I felt.  

The district is eligible for and has received a lot of ESSER funds from the federal government for dealing with pandemic issues.  There is effectively a financial benefit for keeping these pandemic issues alive in our schools.  LASD has been taking advantage of those benefits, as evidenced at this last meeting in the discussion over a new position of health liaison officer, and by other purchases made since last year that I reviewed after receiving a FOIA response. 

I can present you with over a dozen longstanding peer reviewed randomized control trials that indicate face coverings do not significantly affect community spread of respiratory viruses like Covid-19.  I can present you with dozens of LASD students who have suffered definite negative effects from mandated mask wearing.  I have presented you with 2020 statistics from Sweden showing that open schools without mask mandates had no effect on school age children dying, and a significant positive effect when less teachers died than expected for a normal year.   

An honest risk benefit analysis of mandated mask wearing in our schools will always point towards relaxing the mandate to allow for choice.  Unfortunately, there's no ESSER money available for our school if they don't buy into the fear, anxiety, and hysteria running viral throughout American schools.  [END comment]

While the millions of dollars of ESSER money the district is eligible is definitely a seductive carrot on a stick for the LASD Board, it is essentially only a catalyst for the progressive forces on the board (Nagle, Autrey, Reed, and Carlson) that actively desire to exert more control over your kids than you could ever lawfully exercise.  

[RK Hubbard]

XFLD: "I can present you with over a dozen longstanding peer reviewed randomized control trials that indicate face coverings do not significantly affect community spread of respiratory viruses like Covid-19." But wearing masks significantly reduced the incidence of the flu virus. "The science supports that face coverings are saving lives during the coronavirus pandemic, and yet the debate trundles on. (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02801-8). How much evidence is enough?" XFLD: "I can present you with dozens of LASD students who have suffered definite negative effects from mandated mask wearing." Then LASD students are a very special case because millions of doctors, nurses, students and more than a billion people around the world wear masks without problems. XFLD "I have presented you with 2020 statistics from Sweden showing that open schools without mask mandates had no effect on school age children dying, and a significant positive effect when less teachers died than expected for a normal year."  The truth: "A careful analysis of health data from Sweden suggests keeping schools open with only minimal precautions in the spring roughly doubled teachers' risk of being diagnosed with the pandemic coronavirus. Their partners faced a 29% higher risk of becoming infected than partners of teachers who shifted to teaching online. Parents of children in school were 17% more likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19 than those whose children were in remote learning." (https://www.science.org/content/article/keeping-schools-open-withou...) It appears, XFLD, that both Science and Nature disagree with you. 

[Willy]

RK. You do understand that the "flu" and Covid are both viruses. If masks supposedly stopped the spread of the flu then why did it not stop the spread of Covid? The flu did not disappear. Since the symptoms and consequences of the flu and Covid mirror each other the only real conclusion that can be drawn is that flu statistics were lumped into the Covid side of the ledger in order make Covid appear to be more significant than it was. I personally know of people who died and were classified as Covid deaths when in fact they died from other causes. I have talked to family members who have loved ones who died along with hospital staff and was told of the false information put out and the inflation of Covid incidences in order to gain the system for more Government money. Most of the information about this issue that comes from the CDC and the Fed and State Governments cannot be trusted.

It didn't take long for me to recognize political BS in the articles you posted. The fact that your posted article had a link to how "Trump damaged science" negates any serious consideration of your posted data.

Nice try RK. It only takes common sense and paying attention to see how twisted the Government authorities are when it comes to dealing with this problem. We have all been duped, you included. The only problem is you don't realize it.

[RK Hubbard]

I did NOT say that masks stop transmission of the flu virus. They reduce it, just like they do with the Covid 19 virus. You admit that masks reduce the transmission of flu and that the two viruses are similar. Can you explain why masks reduce flu cases and not Covid cases? Further, there are ALWAYS exceptions to rules, especially in the field of medicine. Your citing of incidental cases means nothing when the immeasurably vast majority of cases prove otherwise. Still further, you cannot logically say that someone with other complicating medical issues, with which they are getting along very well, did not die of Covid when in fact they got infected with Covid and died of complications. ALL diseases compromise functions of the body, and Covid can easily push someone over the edge. So the default setting is this: If you died WITH Covid, you died OF Covid. Period. I also dispute your assertion that the internationally respected journals SCIENCE and NATURE are full of "political BS." Instead, they are full of science and "common sense." (You can read them yourself.)

One 2013 study looked at how masks could help people with the seasonal flu limit spreading it when they exhale droplets containing the virus. Overall, researchers found masks led to a more than threefold reduction in how much virus people sprayed into the air.

Another study analyzing data from thousands of Japanese schoolchildren, found that “vaccination and wearing a mask reduced the likelihood of developing seasonal influenza.”

[XLFD]

The 2013 study you provide was limited to under 100 influenza patients in hospital settings, not asymptomatic individuals in community settings.  If a sick person expels N viral particles through droplets and a mask stops M of those particles, then there are still N-M particles in the air.  Being that much of the N particles are in aerosol form, you still have plenty of viral contaminants in the air even with a sick person wearing a mask.  You also must consider that if those N-M particles made it through the one mask, they will make it through other nearby person's masks.

So why do we have healthy people wearing masks when it has no appreciable benefit, and why do we enforce that strictly on school kids when they are least likely to be affected to a noticeable extent? 

[RK Hubbard]

Your analysis ignores the factor of viral load. One is more likely to be infected by Covid (or any other virus) with "N" viral particles in the air than with "N-M" particles in the air. There is no way to eliminate the risk of Covid, but there are many ways to reduce the risk. Masks have been absolutely proven to reduce aerosol particle exhalations. Are you suggesting that all the doctors and nurses that wear them are wrong? The more ways we reduce the risk of infection, the sooner we all get over Covid 19.  If masks reduce the risk of my spreading Covid to another person by just 1%, I will wear one because I don't want to cause the serious sickness or death of a fellow citizen, millions of whom are immuno-compromised. For these people (one of whom I live with), Covid is a virtual death sentence.  I also want to contribute to getting America to herd immunity ASAP. If you don't want to help, fine. Darwin has a way of dealing with that. BTW, unvaccinated people who had recovered are five times more likely to test positive again than people who were recently fully vaccinated.

[Willy]

RK, it doesn't take a genius to understand that masks do not prevent the spread of a virus. Masks are only good for repressing common sense in order to keep people in line. Just reread  what you post and you will realize that you have been indoctrinated by and are under the control of the left. Below is a simple face mask test video by Dr. Ted Noel. He conducted a simple experiment which anyone can do themselves at home. Dr.Ted Noel.

[RK Hubbard]

You guys are blowing smoke again.....

"Both surgical masks and unvented KN95 respirators, even without fit-testing, reduce the outward particle emission rates by 90% and 74% on average during speaking and coughing, respectively, compared to wearing no mask, corroborating their effectiveness at reducing outward emission." 

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-72798-7

The only similarity between a virus and vape is that they both start with "v."

[Willy]

I guess we won't be coming to a mutual agreement on this anytime soon, RK. I'm curious though. Do you agree or disagree with mask wearing mandates and vaccination mandates, especially those involving children?

[RK Hubbard]

Yes. Sometimes Typhoid Mary laws are necessary. Sometimes civil authorities must act in the best interest of citizens even when the rules are inconvenient. Examples abound throughout history (e.g WWII blackout rules). If Trump had embraced Covid rules and instituted effective nationwide anti-virus policies when he had the chance, perhaps we would be done with Covid by now. Instead he called it a hoax and inspired millions of people to ignore the simple steps we needed to take to rid ourselves of this disease. Now 700,000 Americans are dead. There is freedom. And there is responsibility. 

"...all society represents an uneasy equilibrium
between private autonomy and the
needs of the community and that no
system of government can prevail for
long without some visible authority in
matters of health and social stability."
http://www.rimed.org/rimedicaljournal/2020/05/2020-05-74-heritage-a...

[Willy]

RK. Your joking, right? It's Trump's fault? That's all you've got. When the pandemic began Trump was the person who got the FDA off it's political left a_s to speed up the vaccination creation that has helped so many. He also endorsed and took drugs that cured him of Covid, Drugs, that to this day, are being denied to the citizens of America by the FDA. 

You are so willing to give up your freedoms and rights because you think the Government can make better choices for you then you can but you don't seem to realize they are not doing this for temporary gain of power but for a permanent establishment of control.

Unfortunately the Left is plotting a course for America's "Disequilibrium" A purposeful plan to unbalance our economy and society and they are well on their way to achieving those goals as long, of course, that they have the support of and approval of useful idiots who go along with their agenda.

 

[XLFD]

Not at all, RK, they continue to agree.  Your pop-sci periodical cherry-picked what they felt was significant in the Swedish study and ignored the rest.  The New England Journal of Medicine published the data which focused primarily on morbidity and ICU visits in Sweden due to Covid among various groups, the Science article  focused only on case rate.  These findings include:

1)  "As compared with other occupations (excluding health care workers), [ICU visits] corresponded to sex- and age-adjusted relative risks of 0.43 (95% CI, 0.28 to 0.68) among schoolteachers (see the Supplementary Appendix)."  Teachers were safer than a vast majority of occupations.

2)  "we found a low incidence of severe Covid-19 among schoolchildren and children of preschool age during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Among the 1.95 million children who were 1 to 16 years of age, 15 children had Covid-19, MIS-C, or both conditions and were admitted to an ICU, which is equal to 1 child in 130,000."

3) "No child with Covid-19 died."

This is why Science magazine ignored reporting on the important stuff, hospitalizations and deaths, because it is part of the fear-mongering crowd rather than a part of the rational, dispassionate scientists we need more of.  Instead they focus on case rates-- note if there are a lot of case rates and not many ICU cases or deaths, this is the best way to reach herd immunity when there is no vaccine.

[RK Hubbard]

Willy, I merely stated two facts. Fact: Trump called Covid a hoax. Fact: After he said that, 750,000 Americans died of Covid. There are two possible conclusions: Trump bears some responsibility, or he does not. You are entitled to your own opinion. So am I.