In the Edmond parents lawsuit against Edmond Public Schools, an Oklahoma County judge has ruled that he will not grant a temporary restraining order against the Edmond school district quarantine policy for unvaccinated students.
A small group of parents filed the lawsuit earlier this week against Edmond Superintendent Dr. Angela Grunewald and school board members, claiming the district is violating their children's constitutional rights.
"We want our kids to be in school, we want healthy kids to be in school," said Edmond parent Brian Shellem, who filed the lawsuit. "We have hundreds of parents support this effort, we have a lot of people supporting it financially as well."
"It's very important to them that they be able to to control those types of issues and not have a third party, like a school district or the health department, make that decision on their behalf," said attorney Stan Ward.
Ward is representing the parents and says the policy discriminates unvaccinated students, forcing them to quarantine if they're exposed to the virus, when vaccinated students don't have to.
He says it leads to an issue of attendance and the quality of education for those who have to quarantine.
"The levels of education are different as well as the fact that they don't have the interaction with their peers," said Ward.
Dr. Grunewald took the stand in court Friday, defending the districts policy.
She said it was put in place based on recommendation by the Oklahoma City-County Health Department (OCCHD), along with the Oklahoma State Department of Education - especially after positive COVID cases spiked rapidly within the first few days of school.
Per the most recent guidance from the OCCHD, quarantines are required for individuals exposed to a positive COVID-19 case.
The OCCHD also says individuals who are fully vaccinated do not need to quarantine if they are exposed to a COVID-positive case. However, anyone who has symptoms of the virus will need to isolate until the can take a COVID test or receive an different diagnosis.
The district released a statement saying "Today’s court ruling honored the very heart of Edmond Schools' desire to follow COVID-related protocols given to us by public health experts to keep students and staff safe. We thank our students, parents, and staff for working with us as we navigate the frequent COVID-related issues and challenges before us. As we have stated frequently, our goal is to keep students in school and safe."
While the denied TRO stands, Edmond parents will have another shot to blocking the quarantine policy.
Judge Don Andrews will hear a complete presentation of evidence in the hearing on September 29th.
"We're not at all disappointed, we're excited to hear what the judge is going to do 12 days from now," said Shellem.
"We're just going to get prepared and have our day in court," said Ward.
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