Merits of masking, quarantines discussed at New Buffalo school board meeting

SCHOLASTICS

Merits of masking, quarantines discussed at New Buffalo school board meeting

Adiscussion over the merits of masking and quarantine took center stage at the New Buffalo Area Schools Board of Education’s nearly two-hour meeting in the Performing Arts Center Monday, Dec. 20.

The school district switched to remote learning the week before due to a growing number of Covid cases.

Per the district’s Return to Learn Plan that was approved by the board in August, the district recommends face masks in the school buildings but doesn’t require them.

Superintendent Dr. Jeff Leslie said that, when he made the decision to switch to remote learning, he felt there was evidence that there was transmission in the building, which he said they “hadn’t had up to that point going back to September 2020.”

He reiterated what he’d said at the Dec. 13 board meeting, which was that they’d had “as many (cases) that previous week as we’d had in the entire school year up to that point.”

According to a form that gives the cases throughout the county that was given to board members, board president Chuck Heit said that, when he looks at the numbers, New Buffalo’s numbers are “very similar and not any higher than those (districts) that have mask mandates in place – and some had mandates in place since the beginning of the year.”

“When you look at our internal data, the data, to me, just does not show that it’s a big difference between districts when you look at per student transmission per capita,” he said.

BY FRANCESCA SAGALA

Heit said that currently, the “test to stay” does not require you to have a mask.

He added that the county health officer and state chief health officer, who have the power to issue a mandate, haven’t and have left it “up to districts to make the best decision we have with the data we have.”

The district has invested in mitigation measures, such as ionization units in both buildings.

He added that the board may want to look at quarantine, such as of not quarantining students who are not sick and having testing in place to make sure they are not asymptomatic.

Adding that he’s fully vaccinated with a booster, Heit said he took offense to being told the previous board meeting that those who choose to not wear masks thought Covid was a “joke” and are “idiots.”

“I will never tell anyone not to wear masks but the fact that I don’t for people to make judgements about those who don’t - I find that offensive,” he said.

Heather Black said that looking at the list that was distributed to them, New Buffalo was “in the top one third percentage of transmission” on the list of 18 school districts. Per the list, they were higher than larger school districts, such as Benton Harbor and St. Joseph.

“I believe we’re here to protect our kids, we did it (wore masks) all last year and our transmission rates were very low,” she said.

While she urged everyone to think of others and their health and wear a mask, Lisa Werner said that school boards were “never considered to be an arm of the state government – they are by design a representation of the community and we represent you and we want to do what’s right for you.” “They (school boards) were also never intended to make a blanket public health decision but rather making policy to deal with protecting the healthy from the unhealthy with a case-by-case evaluation,” she said. Tricia Newton said that the numbers that Leslie gave them last week were “alarming and scary.” She said that she had originally voted for the choice to wear masks because “things had changed,” such as the availability of vaccines and that the numbers were “way down.” Now, things had changed again. “I can’t count what cases haven’t happened,” she said, adding that there’s no data on that.

More than 20 people participated in the public comments, which also featured parents from neighboring school districts such as St. Joseph and Lakeshore.

Bryan Strother said that his children have experienced headaches, breakouts on their faces and have had difficulty seeing teachers’ faces while wearing a mask.

“I am the parent of my children and as much as I respect all of you, I get to choose what happens with my children’s health and wellbeing and I choose that for the reasons I have,” he said.

Heather Gradowski said that her child, a middle schooler at New Buffalo, was contact traced for the third time in seven days on the first day of remote learning, along with her sophomore.

She said her seventh grader “broke down in tears” and said that the previous year, ‘we had to wear masks and we got to be in school for the whole year and now people won’t wear masks and I can’t go to school.”

She added that giving “two days’ notice” on the return to remote learning also inconvenienced working parents.

Jim Oselka said that he sent an email to the board with over 65 signatures from parents against a mask mandate and a petition is circulating of over 120 parents who don’t want one.

He said that he counted all the cases and quarantines compared to this year and last year. “This year with masking optional, there should be an exponentially higher number of people having to quarantine but there isn’t,” he said, adding that that tells him that masking is “immaterial when it comes to the spread of Covid.”

Lauren Gradowski read a statement from a student, Ren Nash, stating that refusing to wear a mask and follow the recommendations of health and scientific professionals “is not civil liberty, it’s selfish.”

She feared that traveling during over the holidays would cause the “consequent spreading of germs’ when students returned Jan. 3.

“I ask kindly that you listen to the CDC and various medical professionals,” Nash’s letter said.