The Fox C-6 School District has reversed its policy regarding face masks and will require students, staff members and others to wear them indoors when school begins Aug. 25.
During a tense meeting Tuesday night, with about 210 people in attendance, Board of Education members voted 5-1 to require masks inside district buildings and at district events.
That overturned the decision Fox had announced Aug. 6 that said masks would be optional when the school year starts.
The district did not require masks to be worn during summer school, camps and events after having students and staff wear them throughout the 2020-2021 school year.
According to the policy approved on Tuesday, though, masks will be required as long as Jefferson County is in the “red” or “orange” levels on the Jefferson County Health Department’s COVID-19 warning system. Red is the highest level the four-color system and indicates high transmission of the coronavirus within the community, and orange is the second highest and indicates substantial spread of the virus.
New COVID-19 cases have been on the rise, and Jefferson County currently is in the red level.
Board member Jim Chellew, who made the motion Tuesday to require masks, said he intended the requirement to only apply to indoor events.
Chellew and fellow board members Carole Yount, Krystal Hargis, Michelle Chamberlain and Vicki Hanson voted in favor of the requirement, and April Moeckel cast the lone no vote. Board president Judy Smith was absent from the meeting.
“The thing that most people don’t seem to understand is when they are wearing the mask, they are not wearing it for themselves,” Chellew said. “They are wearing it for the other people in the room because the kind of masks that we mostly have available aren’t the type that literally seals around the face. The whole purpose of the mask is to try to block as much of the spray as possible that comes out of your mouth. The mask only works if everyone wears them. They are not foolproof, but they do reduce the amount of viral particles in the air if everybody wears them.”
Moeckel said she would have preferred the district begin the school year with a mask requirement in place for the first two weeks of classes. She said she wanted district officials to keep track of COVID-19 positive cases in buildings and then reassess if Fox should continue to keep its mask policy in place or make masks optional if the transmission rate was low enough.
“There are so many facets to this COVID monster that no one knows what is right for everybody,” Moeckel said. “To say that a mask is right for you, it may not be right for me. I think it comes down to personal choice. We have other mitigating factors in place that will help limit the spread.”
Board members are required to revisit the district’s COVID-19 mitigation strategy within 30 days because of a state statute that prohibits local officials from issuing public health orders or restrictions leading to the closure of schools, businesses or places of worship beyond 30 days during a six-month period amid a state of emergency, district officials said.
The audience at Tuesday’s meeting was divided, with about 150 not wearing masks and sitting in the floor-level seats of the auditorium and the remaining 60 or so wearing masks and sitting in the balcony area.
Many of those who were not wearing masks were holding signs with messages opposing mask requirements, and some of those who were wearing masks had their own signs asking for masks to be required.
During a 30-minute public comment period, 11 people spoke, with eight in favor of a mask requirement, and three against the requirement. While the first people were speaking in favor of masks, some audience members began yelling out, saying they wanted to hear the other side. After the public comments, when the board was discussing the policy, some audience members held up three fingers, signaling only three people from their side got to speak, so they didn’t think their views were being heard.
JP Prezzavento, Fox’s communications and instructional technology coordinator, said the order of speakers was based on when people turned in cards requesting to take part in the comment portion of the meeting.
After the board’s vote, many people in the floor seats stood up and shouted at the board members and the superintendent’s cabinet members, who were seated on the auditorium’s stage. At one point, Hargis, the board’s vice president who was running the meeting in Smith’s absence, asked the five Arnold Police officers at the meeting to escort some of the audience members out of the auditorium.
“I have lived in this community all of my life, and generally, people in this community have pretty strong feelings about things and they express them,” Chellew said. “I wasn’t surprised that there was a lot of passion associated with this.”
On Aug. 11, the Health Department issued guidelines and protocols recommending that schools require students, staff and others to wear masks in school buildings. Spokeswoman Brianne Zwiener said the Health Department has been recommending the requirement since March, and the current guidelines also encourage COVID-19 vaccinations for anyone who is eligible and provide information about testing and ways to improve ventilation systems in buildings.
Moeckel said even though she preferred a different strategy regarding masks, she stands by the board’s policy.
“I am hoping and praying for a healthy school year with all of our kids in school,” Moeckel said. “I am one voice of seven, and I respect the decision.”