The school board has adopted the safety protocols we requested. This outcome reflects a profound effort by everyone who kept focused on the health of our students throughout this process. I hope we continue to monitor these conditions closely to ensure our schools remain a protected space for all.
November 4, 2021
Final supporters
“Raising the next generation is a shared responsibility. When families, communities and schools work together, students are more successful and the entire community benefits.”
-U.S. Department of Education
We are Gretna residents, parents, family and friends of children who attend Gretna Public Schools (GPS) and are writing to insist that the Gretna Public School District immediately impose universal masking requirements, along with instituting consistent contract tracing and/ or quarantining for anyone who was in contact with persons who have received a positive Covid test or have Covid-like symptoms if not tested. Taking these immediate actions in the face of increasing cases of Covid-19, the Delta Variant or other potential varients is the least restrictive means by which the district can protect our children.
A Duke University’s recent study of 1 million school children showed that universal masking is a close second to vaccination to protect against contracting or spreading Covid-19. It is known that the Delta varient is affecting children more than the original form of Covid-19, that children could potentially get sicker, that vaccinated adolescents and adults can carry and transmit the virus to unvaccinated or otherwise vulnerable individuals and that the cases of Delta are rapidly increasing in Sarpy County and surrounding areas. We know that local physicians and hospitals are being stressed by increasing RSV and Delta cases, and are urging us to follow CDC guidelines to help the transmission of such diseases; also know that our kids learn best in an in school setting.
That being said, our children also have a right to expect to be safe in our schools. Many of our children are under the age of 12 and are not eligible to receive a Covid vaccine. In order to help ensure their safety be met at this time and under these circumstancese, we are insisting that the Gretna Public School Board immediately require universal masking and contact tracing within GPS. Please heed the advice of the many professionals at the CDC and American Academy of Pediatrics; we all must do everything we possibly can to protect the health and safety of our kids, especially those who are currently ineligible to get a Covid vaccine which could prevent them from contracting a potentially deadly virus. We don’t yet know what the long-term negative impacts on their health might be. Help us help them!
Thank you for considering this request and remember your promise:
"At Gretna Public Schools, the health and safety of our students, students’ families and staff is our priority."
Signed,
Concerned Gretna residents, parents, family and friends of children who attend Gretna Public Schools
Updates
Reached 500 supporters
August 26, 2021
Reached 100 supporters
August 21, 2021
87 Comments
IF keeping kids IN school where they learn best, for some safer than at home, is priority to you then nothing makes more sense than a mask requirement for all. Vaccinated and unvaccinated! Masking may be uncomfortable but it keeps those most vulnerable to the newest variant safer!
Sarpy Cass Health Dept. says, “Wear a mask indoors if you are not fully vaccinated”. Period. This shouldn’t even be a discussion. Gretna School District says they are going to follow local health dept guidelines… PROVE IT!!!
Thank you. It does no good for my child to wear a mask if others aren't! Both my kids have respiratory issues they were born with and last year (masked) was the only year they were illness free all year!
I have to elementary school boys who both where masks and both tested positive for COVID today. If the other children has also worn masks this may not have happened. We spent the evening at ER for one who is very ill. Not much can be done except tylenol/motrin.
My children go to Palisades and are not vaccine eligible. Masking along with the other interventions in place are what can keep schools open and safer until they are eligible.
How sad that we even have to be questioning the sensible nature of this. Just do it!
As a certified Nebraska educator, grandmother, mother of two Gretna graduates who both went on to obtain PhDs, wife of an employee of Children's Hospital and Medical Center, past employee of Gretna Public Schools, and a member of the Gretna community for many years, I ask you - the decision makers who hold children's futures in your hands - to read and research and then fully implement the health safety measures which will best protect our children now and give them the best chance of having a full school year of learning. Use the facts provided by doctors, scientists, and other researchers and then act on their advice!
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The school board has adopted the safety protocols we requested. This outcome reflects a profound effort by everyone who kept focused on the health of our students throughout this process. I hope we continue to monitor these conditions closely to ensure our schools remain a protected space for all.
November 4, 2021
Final supporters
“Raising the next generation is a shared responsibility. When families, communities and schools work together, students are more successful and the entire community benefits.”
-U.S. Department of Education
We are Gretna residents, parents, family and friends of children who attend Gretna Public Schools (GPS) and are writing to insist that the Gretna Public School District immediately impose universal masking requirements, along with instituting consistent contract tracing and/ or quarantining for anyone who was in contact with persons who have received a positive Covid test or have Covid-like symptoms if not tested. Taking these immediate actions in the face of increasing cases of Covid-19, the Delta Variant or other potential varients is the least restrictive means by which the district can protect our children.
A Duke University’s recent study of 1 million school children showed that universal masking is a close second to vaccination to protect against contracting or spreading Covid-19. It is known that the Delta varient is affecting children more than the original form of Covid-19, that children could potentially get sicker, that vaccinated adolescents and adults can carry and transmit the virus to unvaccinated or otherwise vulnerable individuals and that the cases of Delta are rapidly increasing in Sarpy County and surrounding areas. We know that local physicians and hospitals are being stressed by increasing RSV and Delta cases, and are urging us to follow CDC guidelines to help the transmission of such diseases; also know that our kids learn best in an in school setting.
That being said, our children also have a right to expect to be safe in our schools. Many of our children are under the age of 12 and are not eligible to receive a Covid vaccine. In order to help ensure their safety be met at this time and under these circumstancese, we are insisting that the Gretna Public School Board immediately require universal masking and contact tracing within GPS. Please heed the advice of the many professionals at the CDC and American Academy of Pediatrics; we all must do everything we possibly can to protect the health and safety of our kids, especially those who are currently ineligible to get a Covid vaccine which could prevent them from contracting a potentially deadly virus. We don’t yet know what the long-term negative impacts on their health might be. Help us help them!
Thank you for considering this request and remember your promise:
"At Gretna Public Schools, the health and safety of our students, students’ families and staff is our priority."
Signed,
Concerned Gretna residents, parents, family and friends of children who attend Gretna Public Schools
Updates
Reached 500 supporters
August 26, 2021
Reached 100 supporters
August 21, 2021
87 Comments
My 8 and 3 year old have worn a mask for well over a year and a half now, in school, stores, literally everywhere we go inside. They understand they are not only protecting others, but themselves as well. There’s not getting through this pandemic if we don’t care for one another.
IF keeping kids IN school where they learn best, for some safer than at home, is priority to you then nothing makes more sense than a mask requirement for all. Vaccinated and unvaccinated! Masking may be uncomfortable but it keeps those most vulnerable to the newest variant safer!
Sarpy Cass Health Dept. says, “Wear a mask indoors if you are not fully vaccinated”. Period. This shouldn’t even be a discussion. Gretna School District says they are going to follow local health dept guidelines… PROVE IT!!!
Thank you. It does no good for my child to wear a mask if others aren't! Both my kids have respiratory issues they were born with and last year (masked) was the only year they were illness free all year!
I have to elementary school boys who both where masks and both tested positive for COVID today. If the other children has also worn masks this may not have happened. We spent the evening at ER for one who is very ill. Not much can be done except tylenol/motrin.
My children go to Palisades and are not vaccine eligible. Masking along with the other interventions in place are what can keep schools open and safer until they are eligible.
How sad that we even have to be questioning the sensible nature of this. Just do it!
As a certified Nebraska educator, grandmother, mother of two Gretna graduates who both went on to obtain PhDs, wife of an employee of Children's Hospital and Medical Center, past employee of Gretna Public Schools, and a member of the Gretna community for many years, I ask you - the decision makers who hold children's futures in your hands - to read and research and then fully implement the health safety measures which will best protect our children now and give them the best chance of having a full school year of learning. Use the facts provided by doctors, scientists, and other researchers and then act on their advice!
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My 8 and 3 year old have worn a mask for well over a year and a half now, in school, stores, literally everywhere we go inside. They understand they are not only protecting others, but themselves as well. There’s not getting through this pandemic if we don’t care for one another.