SMMUSD Boss Says Weekly Covid Tests Of Kids Is Only Way Schools Can Function

Santa Monica-Malibu school superintendent Ben Drati has a vow.

NEWSCART 73690 DRATI VOW

“We are coming back full time. OK??? We are coming back full time.”

And the school superintendent says that for schools to reopen and operate this fall … his teachers and principals and nurses need tools.

Masks … and Covid tests.

This brings the local school foursquare into the national culture war.

Some parents are outraged … erupting on social media … vowing to pull their kids out.

The local school superintendent says his principals and teachers need to go beyond the medical guidance from the CDC … Sacramento … Los Angeles County.

Schools need to be able to sort out any sick kids … isolate them if they get sick at school … and test them for coronavirus.

And they need to be able to see if any kids who do not show symptoms of the disease … they need to be tested … mandatory weekly nasal tests at school for the coronavirus.

Also … a requirement that kids wear masks at all times … even on the playgrounds.

And that thrusts the Santa Monica Malibu School District straight into the middle of the culture war raging across America.

At Tuesday’s school board meeting … Drati won permission to test every kid … with a nasal swab … once a week.

Some parents are irate.

Doctor Huhman Humadi at UCLA is medical doctor … a medical researcher into Covid 19.  [NAME SPELLED PHONETICALLY]

He introduces himself as a vaccination supporter …

But he told the board … the mask requirement and weekly testing is overkill.

NEWSCART 73689 HUMADI

“Regarding the outdoor masking … the CDC … the State of California … LA County … do not require this as you know.

Yet, you are about to vote against all guidelines to force students to never see each other’s faces … or ever know what their friends really look like.

“Regarding surveillance testing .. the CDC the state of California and L A County again do not require this.

“But you want to … potentially against all guidelines .. force all students to have a nasal swab put deep into their nose.”

Superintendent Ben Drati replied:

NEWSCART 73688 DRATI REPLY “

“My comeback to all that is … we have to execute all these measures.

“And we have to continue with learning … taking place.”

School superintendent Ben Drati told the school board that the reality is that educators need tools beyond the medical advice from the CDC or Sacramento or LA County.

And he explained to KBUU News in an interview yesterday that the health experts do not have the experience that he does.

Drati says his principals and teachers … unlike the medical experts… had experience last spring operating campuses.

Santa Monica Malibu was one of the very few school districts in the state to reopen fully.

And it was his principals and teachers and nurses … who made the decision for him obvious.

NEWSCART 73687 DRATI EXPLAINS 1:42 LONG

“They pleaded with me over and over …

“If something happens … if somebody gets sick… if somebody is exposed .. we have to go through this contact tracing … and our experience has been you are going to be taking kids in and out of school, bugging parents to come pick up their kids all throughout, and possibly shutting classrooms down or reopening them, sending teachers home, they have to quarantine, all of that is going to ruin the instructional integrity and continuity of learning.

“What we are doing is saying we gotta do our best to say our students need to stay on campus … and our teachers stay on campus and then we’re not bugging parents to come get get their kids from work all the time.”

REPORTER: “Let me ask you this … there are a whole bunch of parents out here on NextDoor … saying ‘this is why I’m going to take my kids out of school… because the Santa Monica Malibu school District is going way beyond what the CDC and county health and state health are recommending.

“What do you say to them?”

DRATI: “It is unfortunate that they feel that way.

“I think everything that I have described about keeping kids safe … keeping staff safe … and maintaining the instructional integrity of the work intact is something that they would want.

“I would actually say that if we eliminate those things … every person that is involved in executing those protocols is stressed out … including their beloved teacher … and including their beloved principal.

“And we are all trying to do best for our students … including keeping them learning and keeping them safe at the same time.”

Santa Monica Malibu’s Ben Drati is not alone in making his conclusions … at least as far as weekly testing of all students in concerned.

The gargantuan L A Unified School District is also going to test every student.

And yesterday … the governor of California said every school must require every student to either be vaccinated … or be tested every week.

And every private school in the state must also either see proof of vaccination …. or a recent test result … for every kid.

And one last point … the cost of the weekly testing.

Drati says the district has a bulk deal on tests … is working with local vendors … and all costs are picked up by the federal government.

A new nationwide Kaiser Family Foundation poll finds that 63 percent of parents of school-age children say unvaccinated students and staff should be required to wear masks while they’re in school.

It is only a small percentage of social conservatives … the survey says … who oppose the mask mandates.

A minority of the minority.