Warsaw School Board Votes 5-1 To Return To Mask Mandate
Warsaw School Board Votes 5-1 To Return To Mask Mandate
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Jackie Gorski-
Warsaw School Board Votes 5-1 To Return To Mask MandateWith one Board member voting against it, the Warsaw School Board voted 5-1 Tuesday to support Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert’s recommendation to mandate masks at all Warsaw schools.
Hoffert said more information will be sent out today and the mandate would probably start Friday.
The Washington Elementary gym was filled with people sitting in chairs and standing in the back and sides of the gym. There were people that clapped when Board member Brad Johnson voted against the mask mandate, and several people called out to Board members after the meeting saying things like “We’re coming for your seats!”
Seventh Board member Jeremy Mullins was not present at the meeting.
On March 13, 2020, what seemed like a two-week shutdown before spring break turned into an executive order that kept students from in-person learning through the rest of the 2019-20 school year, Hoffert said. In the 2020-21 school year, Warsaw Community Schools was one of the largest school corporations to stay open. Virtual learning is a good supplement, but it can’t replace in-person learning, he said.
As WCS went into the 2021-22 school year, the school corporation was looking for the sense of normalcy Hoffert said the community was looking for since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. They continued weekly collaborations with the Kosciusko Health Department, Warsaw mayor’s office, county government and Bowen Center to look at the overall numbers and to look at what the settings were at the schools to make sure they could stay open. As a public school corporation, Hoffert said they “depend greatly” on the local health department.
Masks were mandated on the buses and were optional in classes at the start of the current school year. Hoffert said they were comfortable with the numbers beginning on week one of the school year.
Over the past four weeks, the COVID environment in the schools and community has changed, Hoffert said.
From Aug. 15 to 30, 2020, there were 11 school-aged children that tested positive in Kosciusko County, Hoffert said. From Aug. 15 to 30, 2021, there have been 79 school-aged children that tested positive in Kosciusko County. From Sept. 1 to 8, 2020, there were eight school-aged students who tested positive. During that same timeframe this year, there have been 60. As of Tuesday, Hoffert said WCS has had 126 positive staff members and students since the beginning of the school year. There have been 328 required quarantines.
Hoffert said the current numbers give both WCS and the health department pause.
On Sept. 1, Gov. Eric Holcomb signed an executive order that changed the way schools must function and address COVID-19 with students and staff, Hoffert said.
The executive order gives schools two options The first option is schools can continue as mask optional, but a 6-foot quarantine must be adhered to. The second option is, if a schoolwide mask mandate is done, schools no longer have to do close contact quarantines, Hoffert said. Enforcement of that was put back to the Indiana State Health Department. Anyone who fails to comply with health officers can face a Class B misdemeanor for every day they are in noncompliance.
Kosciusko County Health Officer Dr. William Remington provided a letter that was read at the Board meeting.
“During the last quarter of 2020-21 academic year, which importantly included influence from rising Delta cases, over 100 school districts, covering over a million students and staff, demonstrated that a fully-masked school could safely operate with very few cases, despite significant community transmission occurring beyond their walls. Masking was good, in fact, that quarantining of asymptomatic close contacts was not needed,” a portion of Remington’s letter said.
Board member Mike Coon asked Hoffert if he could elaborate on the consequences of their two options.
Hoffert said under the option where masks aren’t required, the school corporation would see an exponential expansion of quarantines beyond the point where they can’t run the corporation efficiently. WCS does have a masking foundation, as far the mandated masking option goes, so he does not see a lot of things changing from what they were able to accomplish last year and it would give WCS a chance to stay in-person.
Johnson read a written statement. He said any vote he made Tuesday was directly a vote for or against the executive order specifically. He said the current requirements of the executive order, as he understands them, would virtually make it impossible to maintain in-person classes. With current numbers, WCS would be forced to close its doors. It would be due to requirements in regards to contact tracing and effectively create large sums of absences in students and staff.
In his own research, Johnson said, the EPA states three-ply cotton mask only provides 26.5% effective filtration against the COVID-19 virus when worn and maintain properly, he said. Granted, the generic masks worn by the public does provide some protection against the spread of COVID and is recommended by the Centers of Disease Control.
Parents and residents were able to address the Board.
Hanna Hodge, Warsaw, asked why “are we still arguing about my child’s face and what goes on it?” It’s her responsibility to protect her child inside and out and it is WCS’s job to educate, Hodge said.
“Why have we started this school year out mask optional for what it seems to be taking away strategically once federal funds are awarded Sept. 17? For you those don’t know, $6,696,744 is how much Warsaw Community Schools will be allocated via the ESSER III grant,” Hodge said.
The funding comes with stipulations, including the universal and correct wearing of masks, and vaccinations to school communities. She said she got the information from the Indiana Department of Education website. Those terms are scary to hear and are a governmental overreach.
“My child’s health is my legal responsibility,” Hodge said. She said she supports masks, but when they are shown to work.
Brian Lowe, Warsaw, said he has three children and has experienced them being quarantined but from sports. And it wasn’t just one student, but it was the entire team. Lowe said he thinks far too often, “we’re quarantining the healthy.” He doesn’t think there is a correct answer, but doesn’t think falling back on fear is the correct way to dictate how the school corporation is run.
Leslie Conley, Leesburg, said what is popular is not always right and what is right is not always popular. The parents there at the meeting were there to advocate for the children, which “is our right and our duty” to protect them from mandated coverings without their consent. “There are many studies that discuss the health risks associated with masks, as well as conclude masks do not offer the implied effectiveness.”
“Mask mandates aren’t about health, they’re about bureaucracy,” Conley said.
Shelly Gilliland, Warsaw, said she has grandchildren in the school corporation. Some of them are too young to be vaccinated, while others are vaccinated. None of her grandchildren want to get COVID or give it to someone else.
She said the students are used to wearing the masks. One of her grandchildren said it’s not a big deal.
Terry Wood, Warsaw, said his family falls in the unique position of him being a self-employed contractor. If he doesn’t get a job, he doesn’t qualify for Plan B. Holcomb isn’t paying his utility bills or putting food on his table.
Wood said the Bible he reads says he is the one responsible for his children’s health until they reach the age of consent and able to make that decision for themselves. There is no school board, health board or governor that has the right or authority to remove his responsibility to make those decisions. He refuses to allow someone to take away his God-given rights to do what is right for his children.
Jeanne Schutz, Warsaw, starting in 1911 until 1986 said coal miners would release canaries into the mines to see if they were safe. If they weren’t, the canaries would die. She asked the school board not to make children the canaries.
The week of Aug. 20, child hospitalizations rose to levels not seen since January. Doctors at the hospitals that are hardest-hit are saying the levels are worse than what they saw in January, Schutz said. As in the middle of that week, hospitals were seeing an average of 1,200 children per day, four times more than at the beginning at the beginning of July. In 20 of 50 states, schools are being closed due to the rise of child hospitalizations.
She said students need to be in school in-person and everything the schools are doing, they are doing to protect the children. The easiest thing to do is to require masks. Masks work, she said.
