Mid-Prairie removes mask mandate

By Molly Roberts
Posted 4/13/21

Mid-Prairie has made masks optional in all school buildings, with the stipulation that if a building sees an absenteeism rate of 3% or more, the face covering mandate will be reinstituted. The …

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Mid-Prairie removes mask mandate

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Mid-Prairie has made masks optional in all school buildings, with the stipulation that if a building sees an absenteeism rate of 3% or more, the face covering mandate will be reinstituted. The Mid-Prairie Board of Education voted on Monday, April 12 to remove the mandate by a vote of 4-3 in two different motions — one directed at the elementary, middle school and homeschool buildings and another aimed at the high school.

The absenteeism rate that will be monitored will include students absent due to a positive COVID-19 test, quarantine or other illness. The mandate will be lifted starting Monday, April 26.

The first motion, which passed 4-3, included the elementary, middle school and homeschool buildings and was made by board member Jeremy Pickard and seconded by Vice President Denise Chittick. Jodi Meader and board president Jeremy Gugel also voted in favor of the motion, with Gabrielle Douglas, Mary Allred and Marianne Schlabach voting against. The second motion, to apply to the high school, was made by Allred and passed 5-2, with Gugel and Schlabach voting against.

Pickard opened his remarks by saying that he believes teachers and other staff have received undue criticism for their part in enforcing the mask mandate to date. Pickard said he believes all such criticism should be addressed to the school board, who were the ones to vote on the mask mandate in the first place.

“I feel that it should be the parents’ choice to determine how they handle their children,” Pickard said. “I also feel that [removing the mask mandate] does take the faculty and the staff and the bus drivers and the coaches — it doesn’t put them in a situation where they’re forced to carry out a rule that they didn’t implement or have anything to do with.”

Many school board members expressed concern over quarantine rules. Currently, if all students are wearing a mask and one student tests positive for COVID-19, only the positive student will have to quarantine. But if the student who tests positive is not wearing a mask, anyone with close contact to that student will have to quarantine, regardless of their own mask usage.

The school board members were informed that, while they have the authority to stop following quarantine guidelines from Washington County Public Health and the Iowa Department of Public Health, they would not be protected against litigation by the school’s insurance.

“This isn’t a health issue to me, this is a quarantine issue,” Gugel said. “And I do want to remind everyone tonight that this a board of seven volunteers and I don’t think that any one of us up here desires to be sued by anyone for changing our own idea of what quarantine should look like.”

Schlabach first made a motion to continue the mask mandate as is through the end of the school year, which was seconded by Douglas but failed 3-4.

“The one thing that I still cannot get over is the quarantine,” Schlabach said. “I thought about if we lift the masks, if we do make it optional, what does that mean for the kids? I am thinking about the kids who are in sports right now, I’m thinking about the kids who get to have the music program, the choir, the band, the play, the opportunity to go to state, prom and graduation. I think about all these things… but the minute that they take off this mask, it just takes one and then they would have to go back into quarantine.”

Prior to the action taken by the school board, many parents spoke during the public forum in favor of lifting the mask mandate.

“We’re now a year into this pandemic and we’re nearing the end of it and there is hope,” said homeschool mother Courtney Anderson. “I would also like to remind you that our governor does not have a mask mandate. Washington County does not have a mask mandate… I would like to remind you parents should be given the choice about masks. It is our right to decide medical decisions for our children, it is not your right to require them to wear masks. It is not in their best interests for their physical and psychological interests. It is our job to protect them, not yours.”

The district will continue tracking absenteeism by building. If any building sees an absenteeism rate of 3% or more due to COVID-19, quarantine or other illness, that building will again have to wear face coverings. Also, if any building needs to reinstate the mask mandate, masks and face coverings will be required on school busses as well.