By Andy Bell-Baltaci and Noah Crenshaw | Daily Journal

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Parents at a school board meeting Tuesday demanded the board vote in front of them to remove a mask mandate that was set to start the next day.

Parents at another school board meeting the same night alleged masks cause health problems, and threatened to vote out board members if they didn’t do something about a mandate at two schools.

Greenwood and Clark-Pleasant schools moved their school board meetings this week to larger venues to accommodate crowds, which were expected after announcing mask mandates in the hours and days leading up to the regularly scheduled meetings. The two districts are the only ones in the county, as of Wednesday, that have implemented mask mandates due to a rise in COVID-19 cases at schools, and the county’s elevated level of community spread and positivity rate. Neither district changed course during or after the meetings.

Similar scenes have played out across the state as schools navigate whether to require masks. Gov. Eric Holcomb put mask decisions in schools’ hands. Previously, students throughout the state were required to wear masks in schools.

Outbursts interrupt Greenwood meeting

Nearly 100 people filed into the Greenwood Community High School Auditorium to tell the school board why they should remove a mandate that was set to start Wednesday, while others begged them to keep it.

Greenwood schools became the first in the county to issue a district-wide mandate, which is expected to be temporary and will be reevaluated during the Labor Day break, officials said.

Many parents took issue with the science behind wearing masks, and others said they were concerned about the psychological effects masks could have on children. Masks limit the connectivity between children and their teachers, said John Lane, a Greenwood parent, citing a study from last year.

Evan Camp, a science teacher at Greenwood Middle School, took issue with the study Lane cited. Camp, who supports the mandate, brought copies of 22 studies about masks, and pointed out the study Lane cited had been debunked.

“The safety of vaccines, masks and mask efficacy is not controversial among scientists. This is a social and political controversy, not a scientific one,” Camp said.

Several parents questioned why Greenwood schools chose to have a mask mandate for the entire district given the small number of cases in proportion to the student body. Warren McDonald, whose two children attend Greenwood schools, asked what the threshold of cases would be for masks to go away.

The district would like to see its absences and quarantine rates go down, said Terry Terhune, superintendent.

Bridget Semonik, a mother of two students, offered a middle ground. She asked if after Labor Day, the district could require students to wear masks during passing periods and when they are interacting with each other. Students should not have to wear masks if they are just sitting at their desks, she said.

Erick Richards, a Greenwood parent, asked from the audience if parents could take a vote to have the board vote to remove the mandate and make masks optional again. Another man said he seconded the motion, which received applause from the audience.

The board takes public comments into consideration, but they don’t take motions from the floor, Terhune said.

Brian Ayres, a Greenwood resident, asked the board to go on the record about their votes. Other parents began to demand the board tell me.

School board member Mike Metzger reminded them of the decorum of the meeting. The entire board was in favor of the mandate. Personally, he doesn’t take things into account from people who are not experts on a subject, he said.

“If I’m going to take recommendations from somebody, it’s going to be somebody that is in that profession. I have to believe that (doctors) aren’t just making stuff up,” Metzger said.

Several parents asked if they could sign a waiver to not have their kids wear masks.

Some asked board member Jack Napier what he thought about the mandate, as others pointed out he was not wearing his mask properly. Napier doesn’t like the mask mandate, but based on the medical guidance the board received, is in favor of it, he said.

Amy Hommell, a mother of three, told the board she was not a scientist or a doctor, but said masks are not good for her children’s mental health.

There are medical exemptions, and mental health would count as an exemption, Terhune said.

A parent who had already spoken attempted to walk up to the podium near the end of the meeting, but the board told her she could not address them again as she had already spoken. The audience erupted. Several offered to yield their time to her.

“This isn’t Congress. You can’t yield your time,” Metzger said.

As audience members continued to ask the board to let her speak, the school board adjourned abruptly.

Parents, administrators weigh options

A similar scene played out a few miles south.

About 80 people showed up to the Clark-Pleasant school board meeting to debate its new mask mandate for students at Break-O-Day Elementary School and Clark-Pleasant Middle School, where the school board meeting took place.

Clark-Pleasant schools announced the mask mandate at the two schools Monday, after 2% of the schools’ student populations had to quarantine due to positive COVID-19 tests. The schools will only make masks optional again if the percentage of students out due to testing positive dips below 1%, following guidance issued Monday by the Johnson County Health Department.

Susan Reynolds, a grandmother of two Clark-Pleasant students, neither of which attend the schools with mask mandates, argued masks cause dangerous levels of carbon dioxide inhalation.

“Forcing children to wear face masks increases the amount of carbon dioxide in inhaled air to unhealthy levels,” Reynolds said. “There was a study done in Germany. A doctor told me European studies are more accurate.”

Reynolds was referring to a study published June 30 by JAMA Pediatrics. JAMA Pediatrics retracted the study in July, citing issues with its methodology.

“(Issues include) concerns about the applicability of the device used for assessment of carbon dioxide levels in this study setting, and whether the measurements obtained accurately represented carbon dioxide content in inhaled air, as well as issues related to the validity of the study conclusions,” the retraction says. “Given fundamental concerns about the study methodology, uncertainty regarding the validity of the findings and conclusions and the potential public health implications, the editors have retracted this research letter.”

Masks are an essential mitigation tool and are especially important to protect immunocompromised people, said Molly Wirt, a longtime educator at Clark-Pleasant schools.

“I fear COVID, but that I’m told is a frivolous thing to fear,” Wirt said. “My husband has cancer. A lot of my kids wear masks, but it’s not something I can control. I have to be here at work. Kids want to be in the classroom. Masks are not going to be the end of the world.”

Other parents threatened to vote school board members out of office next year.

“We’re going to vote you all out,” said Jennifer Hawkins, the parent of a student in the district. “As far as masks go, COVID isn’t going anywhere. Are we going to be masking our kids forever? … You all have disappointed me. There’s two kinds of karma: there’s the good kind and the bad kind and bad karma will get all of you.”

When COVID-19 cases increase, the choice is between wearing masks and going back to virtual learning, said Patrick Spray, superintendent.

“When the health department strongly recommends something, we follow that,” Spray said. “We had 42 kids positive as of Friday in one building, and the building administration couldn’t contact trace fast enough. We’ve already put hundreds of kids in quarantine. We had to put something of a Band-Aid on it to slow it down.”