Congressional visit
Congressman Sam Graves assured area school districts will not face lawsuits should a student become infected with COVID-19, if the Republican-backed Cares Act II passes.
Graves’ statement came while updating area school superintendents on federal action in the works Monday, inside the Goodrich Auditorium in Cameron.
“The minute the president signs it into law, it would become law,” Graves said. “That would allow at least, even if there isn’t a rule or guidance, it still becomes law and you can go back to that point if it were ever to go to a court situation.”
Graves said there are currently two COVID-19-related bills circulating through congress. The first, a $1 trillion stimulus package, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The second is a $3 trillion stimulus package by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, which does not include liability protection.
“I’m sure it will be a challenge, as everything is, but this is unfortunately the society we live in,” Graves said. “We such a litigious society. There are a bunch of people licking their chops trying to test some of this stuff. Attorneys make money no matter what.”
Graves’ statement may have come as a relief to Cameron R-1 School District administrators. As of Wednesday morning, Clinton County reached its 100th confirmed COVID-19 case - up 16 since last week. Of the four districts encompassing the Cameron school district, Daviess, DeKalb, Caldwell and Clinton counties have a combined 199 cases and Clinton County Health Department Administrator Blair Shock believes that number will increase when school starts.
Another issue brought up during the meeting regarded internet access to rural students. While many parents chose their children attend school online due to health concerns, that option is not available to students without access to high-speed internet access. The Cameron R-1 School District policy currently allows for teachers to assign those students learning packets, but those packets will not be graded until the end of a 72-hour quarantine. Robinson hopes the solution brought up by Graves will come in the future, but does not forecast high-speed internet access for rural students within the next five years.
“Effectively, it’s compared to how all of these rural electricity (companies) started out, when not everyone had electricity in rural areas. Now they have facilities so everyone can have electricity in certain areas,” Robinson said. “I think they’re going to go back to the simplest approach and try and figure it out. Not that any of this is going to help us in the next five years to be honest.”
