The Park Hill Board of Education Monday night approved a mask mandate for all students and staff after a marathon special meeting featuring four hours of public testimony.
Held in the Park Hill High School auditorium and live streamed, the Monday, Aug. 16 meeting was heavily attended and contentious. After several interruptions by the crowd, and more than four and one-half hours into the meeting, board president Janice Bolin ordered the crowd removed from the auditorium. Platte County Sheriff’s Office deputies moved the rowdy crowd out of the auditorium, allowing the board meeting to continue for the vote, which was 6-1 in favor of the mandate. Member Scott Monsees voted no.
“I know this is a very emotional issue and I don’t think this is a decision the school board should be making, which is why I won’t vote to support this,” Monsees said, after the room was cleared of spectators. “I think the health department should be doing this.”
The district received 66 comment cards from those wishing to speak during the meeting, with another 143 written comments received. District officials reported of the written comments, 122 were in favor of masks and 21 opposed.
Of the more than 50 speakers, the majority spoke out in opposition to a masking policy, with audience members applauding after the comments. After hearing the audience applaud several times for comments made both for and against masking, Bolin called for order and reminded all audience members to wear their masks.
Dr. Jill Owens, Park Hill representative of the National Education Association (NEA), said the NEA conducted a survey of district teachers and 80 percent responded that they would prefer a mask mandate. Several staffers and students spoke, one noting her fully vaccinated father recently died of COVID-19. Several health care professionals also spoke up about the situation at local hospitals and their own experiences with treating COVID patients.
Student Kaitlyn Bolt spoke of her frustration with the entire situation.
“People who pretend this virus isn’t real have stolen a year and a half of my life,” Bolt said.
Another Park Hill parent spoke about her own efforts to launch a petition asking the board to approve a mask mandate, with more than 1,000 signatures.
Parents on both sides threw out statistics and studies regarding the rising case count due to the delta variant, the efficacy of masks and the effects of COVID on children.
One of the speakers was first district commissioner Dagmar Wood, who spoke on behalf of Dr. Ann Riggs, who has been outspoken in opposition to masking.
Wood also spoke for herself, adding she was not representing the Platte County Commission in her statements.
“The fallacy is believing there is no or minimal risk to adhering to the dictates of Kansas City mayor Quinton Lucas’ orders,” Wood said. “It is likely your legal counsel has told you that Senate Bill 51 does not protect the school district, however you also run the risk of significant harm for unnecessarily masking our kids. Quinton Lucas’ political district is not your district. He is making this decision for a half million people, 77 percent of which are adults, not low risk children.”
Wood was cut off by a time keeper and had a terse exchange with Bolin, who told Wood to be respectful of the board’s rules. SB 51, which becomes effective at the end of the month, establishes liability for COVID-related actions.
After four hours of public comment, the board heard a presentation from district health services director Tammy Saylor, Platte County Health Department deputy director Dan Leubbert and Kansas City Health Department interim director Frank Thompson.
Saylor presented the district’s back to school plan, continuing social distancing policies, stepped-up hand washing and other sanitation efforts, as well as updated quarantine guidelines. She said 90 percent of the new cases that have been reported to the district are from the delta variant.
Leubbert gave the updated numbers from Platte County outside of Kansas City, including the unincorporated areas, Parkville, Riverside, Platte City and other smaller towns. Reported cases from Aug. 1-7 per 100,000 was at 272, more than 2 1/2 times higher than the threshold for “high community transmission.”
“We need to be wearing masks when we’re in these zones,” he said
Numbers appear to be plateauing right now, he said, which is a step in the right direction, but it’s still a very high plateau. Another sign of hope is the uptick in vaccination numbers in the county, which have risen over the past few weeks.
Thompson said Kansas City overlaps 15 school districts, but he had his staff pull out statistics from Platte County for the presentation. From the first of June to the end of July the metro area doubled its COVID cases ever two weeks, a much faster rate of infection than last winter. He also said the spike in infections and hospitalizations in children across all age groups was a new phenomenon. Sewer shed testing shows that 100 percent of the virus shed in the Kansas City area is from the delta variant.
Parents and educators who spoke out against the mask mandate said special education students needed to see the faces of their instructors. Board member Scott Monsees asked if there could be an option for face shields or a medical exemption for these situations.
Superintendent Dr. Jeanette Cowherd said the CDC recommendations are for masking, not shields, and staff and students and their families work together to address such concerns during reviews of individual education plans (IEP).
Board members were also concerned about staffing and if the district would have enough teachers and support staff to keep buildings open should there be an outbreak.
Cowherd said she is keeping her fingers crossed that the situation remains manageable and that enough substitute teachers will be available to cover for staff during quarantines.
Members also noted many employers are now mandating vaccinations. They wondered if the district was tracking how many employees were now vaccinated. The district currently does not track vaccination numbers.
Cowherd said she believes that will be an upcoming discussion.
Board members also questioned community testing numbers, the possibility of testing students before they come into the schools and the threshold of infections before the district may be forced to close schools.
“School is getting ready to start soon and the rates are high in the community, so some of these kids may be walking into our classrooms already having COVID,” said board member Todd Fane.
Cowherd said that was very possible and the district will have to monitor the situation closely, take every precaution possible, and wait to see what happens.
When — after 11 p.m. — board member Kimberlee Ried moved that all students ages three and up and all staff wear masks, to be reassessed by the second quarter, the room erupted into shouting, forcing Bolin to order deputies to clear the room.
The roll call vote quickly followed.