JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) — Jefferson County Public Well being’s COVID order requires all college students age 2 and as much as put on a masks.
JCPH mentioned some faculties weren’t following the requirement after which took them to court docket over it. Three personal, Christian faculties in Jefferson County have been being sued by the well being division.
The division issued a press release saying it determined to file the lawsuit to make sure compliance from the faculties. Religion Christian Academy, Augustine Classical Academy and Beth Eden Baptist College have been the three faculties talked about within the swimsuit.
Leaders from Augustine Classical informed FOX31 the well being division obtained complaints about public faculties not following the order, however they need to know why three smaller faculties are the one ones named within the swimsuit.
An announcement on behalf of the interim director learn:
Augustine Classical Academy (ACA) was shocked by this criticism based mostly on the truth that JCPH inspectors have been escorted into the ability to research complaints and people inspectors clearly indicated that ACA was discovered to be in compliance with the general public well being order, as talked about within the criticism. Inspectors verbally confirmed our compliance. JCPH’s criticism signifies a delay in permitting inspectors into the campus, which is predicated on commonplace protocol as a locked campus. Subsequently, a slight delay whereas directors decide the customer’s id and security is cheap to maintain our college students secure.Additionally, ACA finds it notable that even if JCPH is receiving complaints about public faculties being noncompliant, the criticism names three small, spiritual faculties. We’re inquisitive about why JCPH focused small spiritual faculties in what seems to be an effort to intimidate, if not harass, our faculties for being non-compliant with the general public well being order when all three faculties have both clearly indicated their voluntary compliance and/or been investigated and located to be in compliance by JCPH inspectors.ACA echoes the feelings shared by Religion Christian Academy that this litigation is unlucky for our neighborhood, particularly throughout already demanding occasions for households. We share JCPH’s concern about Covid and are happy to report that since opening for in-person studying in August 2020–13 months in the past–we now have had zero Covid outbreaks, which signifies that ACA shouldn’t be now nor has ever been a public-health risk. We wholeheartedly share the objectives of prioritizing in-person studying and defending the well-being of scholars and acknowledge that JCPH has a official function in serving to the general public navigate well being points. It’s unlucky that JCPH has chosen to depart from their correctly appointed function and are as an alternative utilizing tax {dollars} to launch unfounded and baseless lawsuits towards spiritual organizations who’re dedicated to serving to individuals and households.
Justin F. Riley, Augustine Classical Academy Interim Operations Director
Late Wednesday afternoon, Augustine was dismissed from the swimsuit after coming to an settlement with the well being division on compliance visits. Beth Eden Baptist was cleared as properly. Jeffco Public Well being mentioned in a press release:
JCPH is happy that we now have been capable of resolve our authorized motion with two of the three concerned faculties in our county – Beth Eden Baptist Church and Augustine Classical Academy. Each faculties have agreed to permit our public well being inspectors to have full entry to conduct compliance inspections, as requested by JCPH within the lawsuit. Litigation remains to be in progress with Religion Christian Academy. This is a vital step towards defending the schoolchildren of Jefferson County, and JCPH will proceed to take all mandatory measures to scale back transmission of COVID-19 in our neighborhood.
Court docket proceedings are set to renew Thursday.
