School officials weigh in on proposed state health standards
McCOOK, Neb. — The McCook School Board president is not in favor of new health standards proposed by the Nebraska Department of Education.
McCook School Board president Tom Bredvick told the McCook Gazette Monday night at the regular school board meeting that said changes in curriculum are usually done on the administrative/superintendent level and board members usually don’t vote on those issues. However, his personal opinion of the proposal is that it would not be a good fit for the McCook School district.
“I wouldn’t vote in favor of them….I don’t know if they reflect the values of Southwest Nebraska voters and parents,” Bredvick said. Bredvick added he’s received the most feedback from constituents on this issue than any other, from people concerned that the standards would be implemented at McCook Public Schools.
When asked today about his view on the standards, Superintendent Grant Norgaard agreed with Bredvick that the proposed standards do not match the values of Southwest Nebraska. “Some things would have to be taken out or removed before its approved,” he said. The McCook School district has its own health standards, he said, that are based on essential learnings appropriate for each grade and include topics such as abstinence and treating others with respect.
In March, the NDE proposed a draft of the new standards for each grade and asked for public input. The department will vote on the standards in the fall. The draft, if approved, would be recommended for implementation into health education in local school districts, but wouldn’t be required. As there is currently no standard for teaching sex education, most school districts follow national standards. The proposed state health standards can be found at here.
The proposed standards contain eight main topics: foundations of personal health, nutrition and physical activity promotion, substance abuse prevention, disease prevention, injury prevention and safety, social, emotional, and mental health, human growth and development, that includes human sexuality and consumer and environmental health promotion. It also includes education on gender identity, sex assigned at birth, gender expression, sexual orientation and different genders. It’s drawn opposition from Gov. Ricketts, who said in a prepared statement that the new standards teach young children age-inappropriate content starting in kindergarten and also uses non-scientific, political ideas into curriculum standards.
Also at Monday’s meeting, two students addressed the board and asked if the school district would consider relaxing the mask mandate. The McCook School District has had a mask policy in effect for students and staff since October.
McCook High School students Tucker Gillespie and Samantha Rodewald asked the board if it would “consider starting the conversation” on recommending but not requiring masks at school. The students cited several reasons for their request, including that the Southwest Nebraska Public Health Department’s COVID-19 Risk Dial is at “green,” and under its guidelines, healthy people are not required to wear masks. They also referenced the low number of hospitalizations for those aged 0-19, that teachers and the at-risk population have received the vaccine or have had the chance to do so and the time teachers have to spend enforcing the mask policy.
Superintendent Grant Norgaard said he was impressed with their presentation and research the students presented and that administration has already been in discussions about the mask policy. Protecting his staff is still a priority, Norgaard said, as there were some staff members who have been hospitalized because of the virus. While some teachers are completely vaccinated, another group of teachers are still in the second stage of getting the vaccine. Norgaard said he “wants to make sure it’s the right time” when relaxing the mandate and recognized the difficult circumstances teachers and students have had to adapt to in order to keep the school open.
“We all are tired of the masks,” he said.
School board president Tom Bredvick said the masks allowed schools to stay open in fall and “in the beginning, that was enough.” He also commended the students for their articulate presentation.
Board member Loretta Hauxell said statistics have shown that the mental health of students is just as important as being physically healthy and that both needed to be taken into consideration.