Students and staff at Middle School North and Sugar Grove Elementary School will be required to wear masks for at least the next two weeks starting Monday.
Center Grove School Board members on Thursday voted 4-1 to adopt the Johnson County Health Department’s guidance that says masks should be mandated at schools where at least 2% of students are out due to positive COVID-19 tests.
School board member Joe Hubbard voted no to the mandate, saying the decision should not be up to the school board.
This is the third such move in the county, following Clark-Pleasant schools last week and Franklin schools Friday. Under the policy, any school that has at least 2% of its students out due to positive tests must require masks for staff and students indoors during the school day. A mask optional policy will be reinstated if, after at least two weeks, less than 1% of students are out due to positive tests.
About 300 people filled the Center Grove High School cafeteria. The school board extended the allotted time for public comment to 30 minutes due to increased demand.
The 10 people who spoke were split between people who wanted a mask optional policy, and those who wanted masks to be mandated, especially among students not old enough to be vaccinated.
The new Delta variant is more contagious and is sickening more children, making a mask mandate the only viable option, said Dr. Carly Carvell, a family practice physician in Greenwood.
“To not follow experts makes a mockery of medicine, and it’s genuinely astonishing. We all want school to be open, but if COVID cases continue to rise, that will not happen,” Carvell said. “Absences are becoming overwhelming. Pediatric hospitals are filling with COVID-related cases. No child should have to die. My child wears a mask to protect others. We all should wear masks to protect each other.”
COVID-19-related absences have increased exponentially at Center Grove schools. During the first seven days, there were 71 such absences. Last week, there were 594, according to data from Center Grove schools.
Parents who want a mask optional policy are making decisions for themselves, while people who want a mask mandate are imposing their views on others, Linda Meier Sargent said.
“Members of one group want to exercise their constitutional right to choose as parents what they believe is best for children. Americans have the right to be sovereign over their own bodies,” Meier Sargent said. “Members of another group have chosen to wear a mask and mask their children; we’ll call them Group 2. The issue is whether Group 2 has the right to infringe upon Group 1’s constitutional right. Group 1 is not trying to force its beliefs on Group 2.”
Making masks optional is not enough, and masking is only effective if everyone wears one, said Teresa Lockhart, a parent.
“The recommended language is not strong enough and allows opinions to be debated against the advice of health experts,” Lockhart said. “Masking is only effective if everyone participates, not a choose-your-own-adventure.”
Masks make it nearly impossible for students who have speech impediments to speak understandably, and serves as a serious challenge for students with autism or anxiety, said Kara Cecil, a parent.
Ultimately, the only way to prevent schools from moving to an online format is to try to stop the spread of COVID-19, and the best way to do that is to have a number of preventative measures. Adding masks to a repertoire that includes social distancing, ventilation, quarantining and contact tracing will give Center Grove a fighting chance, said Amy Norman, the district’s health services coordinator.
The health department’s recommendation is a good compromise between universal mask optional and mask mandate policies, board member Amy Counts said.
“At the end of the day, if I need to compromise and put a mask on my child to stay in school, that’s exactly what I’m going to do,” she said.
