Warsaw School Board Hears From More Parents And Public About Corporation’s Mask Mandate
September 21, 2021 at 2:19 a.m.
Warsaw School Board Hears From More Parents And Public About Corporation’s Mask Mandate
By Jackie Gorski-
Beth Stephens said she recently put a salon in her home, which is close to the school, and she and her husband thought that was going to be the reason for working from home. However, after the mask mandate, they think maybe the reason she works from home is so she can homeschool her children.
Stephens said she has researched homeschooling more in the last week than she ever cared to. Her son enjoys his teacher, classmates and bus driver.
She was saddened and scared for her son when she learned about the mask mandate.
“And I know everyone is thinking, it’s just a mask. What’s the big deal?” she said. But what comes next? she asked.
She said she thought and prayed on the issue. She took her son out of school to rebel against the mask mandate, but, she said, he went back to school the following Monday. Stephens said she and her husband decided to see how her son got along.
She asked questions to her son’s teacher, who passed Stephens to the principal, who passed her on to the administration. She said administration told her to look at the executive order. She was directed to the health department when she asked why other county school corporations weren’t wearing masks.
“Basically, I felt like the buck was being passed around,” Stephens said.
Bethany Ferren said Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb said in July and August he wouldn’t mandate masks. Somewhere, somehow it changed. Ferren said she wanted an answer from someone why it changed.
Ferren read what a mandate is from Black’s Law, a legal dictionary.
“Mandate is not law. We do not have to follow it,” Ferren said. She said the mandate is causing harm and suggested there may be a class action lawsuit against the school corporation. She said there are a lot of kids who are having negative effects with the masks.
“I just read you the mandate, you guys better get it figured out. You guys are harming children,” Ferren said.
She said her child came home with a 102-degree fever on the third day of school due to overheating and exhaustion and the school corporation would not accommodate her with oxygen.
Linda Kitch said she thought the Board and Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert cared about the children. She was there to defend people’s right to wear or not wear masks. This is a free country, but mandates are not law.
Kitch said the Board had a third option with Holcomb’s executive order and that was not to comply and say boards and parents on the local level should be allowed to decide.
Cynthia Barnett said she’s a numbers person. One of the way she’s a numbers person is she’s a fiscal conservative. To fight the governor on the executive order would not be a fiscally conservative option for the Board. Barnett said she would rather see the money go toward increasing teachers’ salaries and buying new buses with airconditioning.
Don Zolman said mandates are not illegal.
“Anyone who wants to spend some time and read some of the rulings the Supreme Court of the United States will find that mandates are perfectly legal,” Zolman said. A precedent was set in 1905 with Jacobson v. Massachusetts.
If people are going to assault mandates, they need to understand they are legal and can be enforced, Zolman said.
In raising livestock and poultry, Zolman said they have higher standards than what is required for people. He doesn’t understand why people are so concerned about a mask when we take so much care for sanitation for transportation from building to building and in the process of producing those animals. He said we should be at least as concerned as raising “our children as we are about raising our poultry and our livestock.”
The Board also held a public hearing on its 2022 budget Monday.
The total proposed budget is $87,229,352. The education fund makes up $48,307,000 of that. The operations fund is $23,250,000. The debt service fund is $11,088,352. The referendum fund is $2,884,000. The rainy day fund is $1,700,000.
Chief Financial Officer April Fitterling said she hoped the Board will adopt the budget during the Oct. 25 meeting.
Ferren asked if the bus replacement budget that is part of the budget will include retro-fitting buses with air conditioning. She said she knows the majority of school buses don’t have air conditioning and only special education buses do.
Fitterling said it is something the corporation is looking at in the new purchases of buses instead of retro-fitting old ones. She said the school corporation does a rotation of replacement of six buses a year.
In other business, the Board:
• Approved a $100,000 Safe Schools Security Grant. Dr. David Robertson, assistant superintendent for elementary schools, said the school corporation uses the money mainly for school resource officers and to upgrade hardware for secure classrooms in schools.
• Approved a $150,000 contribution from Zimmer Biomet for the continuation of WCS’ STEM education.
• Approved the list of crossing guards for the corporation.
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Beth Stephens said she recently put a salon in her home, which is close to the school, and she and her husband thought that was going to be the reason for working from home. However, after the mask mandate, they think maybe the reason she works from home is so she can homeschool her children.
Stephens said she has researched homeschooling more in the last week than she ever cared to. Her son enjoys his teacher, classmates and bus driver.
She was saddened and scared for her son when she learned about the mask mandate.
“And I know everyone is thinking, it’s just a mask. What’s the big deal?” she said. But what comes next? she asked.
She said she thought and prayed on the issue. She took her son out of school to rebel against the mask mandate, but, she said, he went back to school the following Monday. Stephens said she and her husband decided to see how her son got along.
She asked questions to her son’s teacher, who passed Stephens to the principal, who passed her on to the administration. She said administration told her to look at the executive order. She was directed to the health department when she asked why other county school corporations weren’t wearing masks.
“Basically, I felt like the buck was being passed around,” Stephens said.
Bethany Ferren said Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb said in July and August he wouldn’t mandate masks. Somewhere, somehow it changed. Ferren said she wanted an answer from someone why it changed.
Ferren read what a mandate is from Black’s Law, a legal dictionary.
“Mandate is not law. We do not have to follow it,” Ferren said. She said the mandate is causing harm and suggested there may be a class action lawsuit against the school corporation. She said there are a lot of kids who are having negative effects with the masks.
“I just read you the mandate, you guys better get it figured out. You guys are harming children,” Ferren said.
She said her child came home with a 102-degree fever on the third day of school due to overheating and exhaustion and the school corporation would not accommodate her with oxygen.
Linda Kitch said she thought the Board and Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert cared about the children. She was there to defend people’s right to wear or not wear masks. This is a free country, but mandates are not law.
Kitch said the Board had a third option with Holcomb’s executive order and that was not to comply and say boards and parents on the local level should be allowed to decide.
Cynthia Barnett said she’s a numbers person. One of the way she’s a numbers person is she’s a fiscal conservative. To fight the governor on the executive order would not be a fiscally conservative option for the Board. Barnett said she would rather see the money go toward increasing teachers’ salaries and buying new buses with airconditioning.
Don Zolman said mandates are not illegal.
“Anyone who wants to spend some time and read some of the rulings the Supreme Court of the United States will find that mandates are perfectly legal,” Zolman said. A precedent was set in 1905 with Jacobson v. Massachusetts.
If people are going to assault mandates, they need to understand they are legal and can be enforced, Zolman said.
In raising livestock and poultry, Zolman said they have higher standards than what is required for people. He doesn’t understand why people are so concerned about a mask when we take so much care for sanitation for transportation from building to building and in the process of producing those animals. He said we should be at least as concerned as raising “our children as we are about raising our poultry and our livestock.”
The Board also held a public hearing on its 2022 budget Monday.
The total proposed budget is $87,229,352. The education fund makes up $48,307,000 of that. The operations fund is $23,250,000. The debt service fund is $11,088,352. The referendum fund is $2,884,000. The rainy day fund is $1,700,000.
Chief Financial Officer April Fitterling said she hoped the Board will adopt the budget during the Oct. 25 meeting.
Ferren asked if the bus replacement budget that is part of the budget will include retro-fitting buses with air conditioning. She said she knows the majority of school buses don’t have air conditioning and only special education buses do.
Fitterling said it is something the corporation is looking at in the new purchases of buses instead of retro-fitting old ones. She said the school corporation does a rotation of replacement of six buses a year.
In other business, the Board:
• Approved a $100,000 Safe Schools Security Grant. Dr. David Robertson, assistant superintendent for elementary schools, said the school corporation uses the money mainly for school resource officers and to upgrade hardware for secure classrooms in schools.
• Approved a $150,000 contribution from Zimmer Biomet for the continuation of WCS’ STEM education.
• Approved the list of crossing guards for the corporation.
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