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Community members voice concerns over Nevada R-5 mask mandate
Tensions were high between community members and Nevada R-5 School District Board of Education members Wednesday evening over proposed district COVID protocols. Meeting in the Nevada Middle School library, a group of concerned citizens were present to voice their opinions on a potential mask mandate for district students. Board members Jay Sloniker and Lois Pendrak were not in attendance.
Before the meeting began, board President Mike McCaffree addressed the crowd with a prepared statement. "The attendance at our board meeting is higher than usual," he noted. "We don't usually get this many people — we're glad you're here. The board is interested in hearing your thoughts and concerns and we're happy you have taken an interest. We understand that some of you have concerns that you wish to share and I encourage you to submit your thoughts to us in writing or submit a request to add an agenda item in accordance with our policy, but please be aware there is no time set aside for public comment during this meeting."
Community members present took issue with this assertion, testifying that the board did not release the tentative agenda in a timely manner. One attendee noted that the meeting was made public four days prior, making it impractical to adhere to the board's policy of requesting five days prior for inclusion on the agenda.
In regards to the aforementioned policy, the Nevada R-5 School District policy states that the tentative agenda, related materials and minutes of the previous meeting "shall be mailed to each member at least four (4) days prior to the stated meeting" — and yet, the policy also notes that "any patron or group of patrons desiring to be included on the agenda for the purpose of addressing the Board shall make a request to the superintendent five (5) days prior to the regular Board meeting."
When the discussion of the district's COVID protocols began (part-way through the meeting), Superintendent Dr. Tyson Beshore noted, "Vernon County numbers came out and they were down — I want to say about 24 (cases) — from last week. We had a meeting today with area superintendents and the health department. Nothing new to share there, other than the numbers have went down."
Board member Dr. Jeremy Fast then asked Dr. Beshore if he had some information on what surrounding districts were doing as part of their COVID protocol.
"On the Missouri side, our conference is 'highly recommending' at this point," noted Dr. Beshore, in reference to mask wearing. "I know Kansas City, St. Louis, and Springfield school districts are mandatory."
Dr. Beshore also noted that the smaller schools that were present in the superintendent meeting were all "highly recommending" masks, and not mandating them.
In response to this, one community member spoke up and stated, "Sheldon and Bronaugh are not. I could care less about Springfield, St. Louis, and Kansas City." McCaffree then reiterated what he had stated earlier, "Folks, as I mentioned at the start of the meeting, there is not a period for public comment. The board needs to continue with our published agenda. Please do not disrupt the meeting. Any further disruptions, you may be asked to leave the premises."
Clarifying the difference in quarantine protocols for vaccinated versus unvaccinated students, Dr. Beshore stated, "With the CDC guidelines and with the health department, if a student is vaccinated and they are a close contact and they show that they are vaccinated, they do not have to quarantine. If they are not vaccinated, and they're a close contact, then they would have to quarantine. If everyone is masked in that setting, then the student could quarantine at school as a close contact as long as they weren't showing symptoms. If everyone is not masked in that setting, then it would be a quarantine of 14 days outside of school. That's what the health department is saying and what they're enforcing with the CDC guidelines."
In regards to being a close contact and extracurricular activities, Dr. Beshore noted, "If you are vaccinated, you are able to participate in after-school activities as long as you are not showing symptoms. If you are not vaccinated, then regardless if you are at school or not for quarantine, you are not able to participate after 3 p.m. on anything."
A community member commented, "Do you have a legal right to ask that?" McCaffree responded again, noting there was to be no public comments at the meeting. The community member pressed on, "We're not going to put up with this. I was just informed today that you have five days to submit something to even speak tonight. And you didn't announce it until four days ago? So, you guys can break the rules but we can't speak?"
McCaffree echoed his previous statement, "Please do not interrupt the meeting again, or we're going to ask you to leave." He then stated that citizens could ask for a form from the superintendent's office and submit it five days prior to any meeting in order to be included on the agenda.
Community member Cyndia Haggard added to the conversation by noting, "But sir, that's the whole point. She just pointed out that it's a five day notice, but you only gave four days notice about this meeting. So, what you're saying is next month people can talk about what you're talking about right now. Do you think that's fair?"
The board then elected to take a brief recess and returned to the topic at hand a short time later. Upon returning to the meeting, board member Joy Hawks stated her viewpoints for those in attendance.
"I'm just going to start out by saying I understand there are many points-of-view here and we all have what we believe is the best thing to happen for our kids and our students," she started. "We're responsible for our students. Personally, as a healthcare provider, I would like to start the year with mandatory masks for 30 days. I would like to make sure that our kids are protected — that we're not going to spread this virus. They're in the critical age range right now — we're talking about students that can be exposed and have not had vaccines. Those kinds of things. That is my personal opinion. I'm sharing that with the group and I know there's many other opinions out there and we as a board have to decide what we're going to do. I'm just sharing my opinion at his point."
Board member Monty Smith then shared his opinion with those present. "The two goals are to keep kids in school and to educate them," he noted. "Those are my two goals and everything we try to do as a school board. Now, I understand this is a very hot topic and a hot issue, as well, as whether a person must be vaccinated or not be vaccinated. As well as when and where you want to be told to wear a mask. But, our goal is to try to protect the kids. To keep them learning and to keep them in school. We need to take the appropriate measures and not go to any extremes at the same time. In my opinion, I would follow that it be 'highly recommended' that they wear them. If we get to a certain percentage of infection — some schools are looking at 8 percent — then we make a decision to go to mandatory masks at those locations until those percentages decrease. It's no different than when the seat-belt law came in. Some people wanted to wear seat belts and some didn't. That's a personal choice. Just like this is — right or wrong — it's a personal choice."
Dr. Beshore clarified the "8 percent rule" for those in attendance. "What some school districts are doing is they're doing a 'highly recommended' masking of the districts where it is still a choice," he explained. "If a building gets to be 8 percent or above for their attendance threshold — 8 percent of students who are missing due to COVID or a quarantine — then there would be mandatory masks for the remainder of that week, or until those numbers decrease. They would then go back to 'highly recommended' masking."
Board member Alyson Harder stated her opinion (noting that it is based off of CDC guidelines and the health department's recommendations) is that she would like to see "the first 30 days of school be one where we can actually educate our students. That we are educating them... that we have a mask requirement. That should they be exposed, and as long as they're not symptomatic, they can still be educated here on premises should they choose to. Vaccinated or not. I feel like after that first 30 days, we can look at 'what is our community transmission rate? What are the rates of vaccination? How is the county doing?' This is something that's being done in a lot of districts and a lot of places — not just in Missouri."
Community member Haggard then commented, "I'd like to suggest you leave if up to the parents to decide what their children do." This was met with a round of applause from community members present.
Dr. Fast stated that he thought if there were to be a mandate, that it should be looked at from week to week and not a blanketed 30-day mandate.
McCaffree added his opinion and noted that he "is concerned about the Delta variant. I am not a doctor. I'm trying to educate myself the best I can. My understanding is this Delta variant is very contagious and it is spreading in our part of the country at a high rate and it may make people even sicker than the last group. There seems to be more people my age that are in the hospital and more people my age that are dying of it. I do not know what it does to children, but I understand that they can get sick from it. And I understand that some children end up in the hospital. I do not like masks — I do not like wearing the masks. But, I want the kids to be in school and I would like to get the kids an education this year without them missing half of the year when everybody is out sick. My concern with going optional on the mask is that maybe 25 percent — maybe 50 percent, if we're lucky — of the students will wear them. That poses more of a risk that this Delta variant will spread to the kids, parents, teachers, and there will be more sickness. I don't want to see people dying over this or going into the hospital if we can avoid it."
Smith made the first motion in regards to the matter. He motioned that they "highly recommend" masks and use the 8 percent as a threshold as a guideline, on a building by building basis, to determine whether mandatory masks are necessary. Dr. Fast seconded the motion. With McCaffree, Hawks, and Harder voting "no" and Fast and Smith voting "yes," the motion did not pass.
Hawks made the next motion, that the district have mandatory masks for the first two weeks of school (10 days) for all students and staff district-wide, evaluate at the end of two weeks and then adopt the 8 percent rule. Harder then seconded the motion. The board passed the motion with McCaffree, Hawks, Fast, and Harder voting "yes" and Smith voting "no."
For further coverage of the rest of the agenda items from the Wednesday Nevada R-5 Board of Education meeting, see the Saturday edition of the Nevada Daily Mail.
