WISD keeps the mask on

After more than 100 public comments, the majority in favor of making masks optional for students in Wimberley Independent School District, the Board of Trustees elected to leave the current mask requirement in place and review the issue once again during the April 19 meeting. However, new protocols were passed on how to deal with students who refuse to comply with the rules.

The decision came in the face of a protest both outside of the school board meeting and by some students while in attendance at school during the final week before spring break. School administrators detailed the “chaos” they dealt with last week as students, ranging from a handful to as many as 40 at a time, refused to wear a mask and parents of some of those students did not respond to requests to pick up their child from school. Following protocols created by the district at the beginning of the school year, students who refused to wear a mask were asked to wear one before parents were called. If a resolution was not made, those students were moved to a different area, such as the library, where they continued their education remotely.

“When it becomes 30 (students) that creates the chaos,” Danforth Junior High Principal Greg Howard said. “It creates the logistics of taking care of a group that is not in compliance with the rules. It creates problems for teachers… You have to hire more personnel to deal with a group like that. And also just the frustration of the students on campus.”

The issues were at every campus that requires masks including down to the fifth grade level with 10-year-old students.

“They were in there because they felt like they had to,” Jacob’s Well Elementary Principal SueAnna Thomas said. “I have had a fifth grader for three days now come to me and say ‘My dad says I can’t wear a mask.’ I said ‘What about a face shield?’ …I had to call his mom to let him hear that is OK. I talked to many children who cried about this, because they did not want to be in that classroom. I had 10 kids who are in that classroom that want to be in there.”

The Board of Trustees unanimously approved a new and clarified set of guidelines on how the school will handle students who continue to refuse to comply.

“A teacher will address the student to wear the mask appropriately,” Wimberley ISD Superintendent Dwain York said when outlining the new procedures. “If the student refuses it will go to the Assistant Principal. The Assistant Principal will ask if there is a medical reason why you are not complying with the mask or face covering. If there is no medical reason, the Assistant Principal will ask them to put his mask on and go back to class… If the parent would like to pick them up for remote learning that is an option. If the parent can’t pick them up then their placement would be in (In School Suspension) for that particular day.”

If students have three referrals to ISS they may be sent to the alternative education program.

York stressed that the previous guidelines had been created with the intention of not making mask wearing a disciplinary issue but that this change was needed to allow administrators to restore order.

“We didn’t want to do this. We did not want this to be a discipline issue,” York said. “…It caused chaos in the library. We have got to have a safe learning environment, and this is the only way it can be accomplished. This now has to become level 1 of our student code of conduct… We are turning it from compassionate compliance to (a disciplinary issue.)”

These new rules will go into effect until the school board meets again on April 19. The board voted to once again discuss the possibility to make mask wearing optional at that regularly scheduled school board meeting.

The majority of public comments made during the meeting were in favor of removing the mask requirement. Most argued it was an issue of personal freedom while others felt the masks caused negative health impacts.

“We should have the right to decide what is best for our own children,” Sarah Guerrero said in a submitted public comment read at the meeting. “Masks have detrimental effects on our children’s mental health and well being. My children have experienced headaches, anxiety and other issues due to this mandate. It needs to be lifted and made optional immediately. Enough is enough. As cases are declining and other side effects are increasing such as depression, anxiety and overdose, it is time to give our kids, teachers and administrators the choice to wear a mask or not. Again, it is a choice. It is a slippery slope when a governing board decides what is best for an individual family. We have complied for a year. At some point we need to do what is best for our children. The masks need to come off. The lack of cases in our district, particularly at Blue Hole, speaks volumes. Please look past the fear mongering and allow us personal freedoms.”

On the other hand, there were multiple comments from local doctors, nurses and the Hays County Epidemiologist that asked the school to continue with the mask mandate at this time. A survey of WISD teachers showed that 59 percent favored keeping the masks requirement while 41 percent would rather the requirement be removed.

“We have heard (Superintendent Dwain) York recommended no changes to the protocols, our head nurse, our task force, our Hays County epidemiologist, medical professionals in our community, 60 percent of our faculty, they have all asked us to keep these protocols in place essentially for the remainder of the school year,” Wimberley ISD Board of Trustee Lori Olson said. “For all of the medical reasons, and things that I am not in my professional life qualified to determine, I look to the experts, especially on something like this, to provide guidance.”

WISD teachers and staff were given the opportunity to get the first shot of a two-shot vaccine recently. One of the main arguments against removing the mask mandate now is that the faculty and staff that would like to get the vaccine will still need a second shot and time for the immunity to set in. Head Nurse Darrell Jordan said that the timeline would extend to April 16 for most of the staff that had elected to get the vaccine shots.

Trustee Ken Strange said that he agreed with some of the stated concerns about waiting to see the impact spring break travel would have on COVID-19 infections locally as well as needing more time to assess how variants of COVID-19 will impact the overall outlook before making a decision on whether masks should be required at school.

The board agreed to allow for more time to assess those possibilities and placed an action item on the April 19 agenda to continue the discussion.