For more than a year, the debate over face coverings in public spaces has been a hot topic. And with vaccinations for younger children only recently approved, the debate is in schools.
DeWitt Superintendent Dr. Shanna Spickard began work in July andwas immediately tasked with making one of the hardest decisions superintendents across the country are facing: should staff members and children be required to wear face masks in school?
Ultimately, the district decided to go with a tiered approach based on transmission levels in Clinton County. At a high transmission risk, masks are required inside for all students and staff. As the transmission rate decreases, so do the restrictions. Face masks go from required to strongly recommended once the transmission rate drops two tiers to the moderate risk tier.
Spickard realizes the controversy and the reality that not everyone will be pleased.
“My mom told me early on when I wanted to go into administration that if I was making everybody happy I probably wasn’t doing a very good job,” Spickard said.
Displeasure among some members of the DeWitt community was evident at the Oct. 11 school board meeting. While not part of the meeting’s agenda, face masks were the major talking point during public communication.
With a large number of community members not wearing masks, the actions spoke just as loudly as the words; they opposed the school-mandated face mask requirement for students and staff.
Adam Holland was one of the first community members to speak against the mandate, questioning whether Spickard had the authority to implement a face mask requirement. Holland said one of his kids in the district was recently disciplined for temporarily lowering his mask and that was what prompted him to speak at the meeting.
“The question of whether even the board has the power to issue the mandate is worthy of eventual education,” Holland said. “… The superintendent has no policymaking authority. She’s only an executive officer. All policymaking authority is vested in this board, and they have not taken action. Until they take action, the policy cannot be effective.”
Holland’s statement was followed by a round of loud applause. Others who expressed similar views received the same. People who spoke in support of Holland reiterated points of mental health and the need to get back to pre-COVID times.
“Even Dr. (Anthony) Fauci on news media, mainstream news media, saying it was a noble lie,” Deindre Thompson said. “We have all heard it. Masks do not work.”
“The rate of depression, mental health issues, suicidal thoughts and actual suicides, has climbed to astronomical levels,” Jeff Simpson said. “… Countless studies and randomized tests have proven the ineffectiveness of masks and rather the harmful effects.”
Outside of Simpson, Thompson and Holland, five others spoke in support of removing the mask mandate. Jordan Burnie was the lone community member who voiced his support for the mandate and the decision by Spickard and the board.
“It’s all about risk mitigation,” Burnie said. “And I think the board has taken a sensible approach so that we’ve kept our numbers way, way down compared to our surrounding areas, especially when it comes to long-term quarantines.”
Despite the strong voices, the board remained unified with an opening statement from school board President Craig Kahler.
“With that in mind, when the board and administration set out to develop a plan for this school year, we had two main objectives: to keep staff and students as safe as possible and keep them in the classroom,” Kahler said. “The tiered mask guidelines developed by our administration and supported by the Board of Education allow us to accomplish that goal.”