Members of the El Dorado School Board voted Wednesday to require students and staff to wear masks on El Dorado School District premises in order to combat the spread of COVID-19. The decision was made during a specially-called meeting Wednesday afternoon.
The meeting was called following a preliminary injunction made by Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox on August 6 to temporarily block the state's ability to enforce Act 1002, which bans mask mandates by local governmental entities, including public school districts.
District Superintendent Jim Tucker presented five mask policy proposals put together by him, "some other superintendents and local district employees" to the seven-member board. The proposals were:
1) Strongly recommending all students, employees and visitors wear masks inside district buildings and buses.
2) Requiring all students under the age of 12 to "properly wear a mask" inside district buildings and buses and strongly recommending that other students, employees and visitors wear masks in those locations.
3) Requiring all students, employees and visitors to wear masks inside district buildings and buses.
4) Requiring masks for all students, employees and visitors only in the event that the rolling seven-day COVID-19 positivity rate in Union County is higher than 8% per the Arkansas Department of Health, with the requirement able to be dropped if the positivity rate falls below 8%.
5) Requiring all students, employees and visitors who are not fully immunized against COVID-19 to wear masks in district buildings and buses and strongly encouraging people in those groups who are fully vaccinated to wear masks in those locations, with the policy to be renewed monthly at regular school board meetings.
Asked if he had a recommendation, Tucker said he preferred the fourth option. The Magnolia School District adopted a policy to require masks when Columbia County's positivity rate is above 8% earlier this week.
Before discussion on the five options began, school board member Wayne Gibson moved to adopt the third proposal, which would require masks for all district employees, students and visitors on district premises.
Board member Todd Whatley asked what the current positivity rate in Union County was.
"That's a great question. The positivity rate for Union County right now is 18%. It's had an 8% spike in the past week," Tucker said.
Tucker said that per CDC guidelines, a positivity rate of 8% or below would indicate "moderate" community spread of COVID-19, whereas anything above that would indicate "high" community spread of the virus.
Whatley asked also whether the district could consider postponing the start of school for 30 days, "to see what's going to happen."
"At this point, the governor and Arkansas Department of Education have stated that there is going to be no delay in start time for schools at this time," Tucker answered. "It was (stated) right at the time the spike was made; I don't remember if it was before or after. But it was during the spike, definitely."
School board President Susan Turbeville said she had been contacted by nearly 50 local residents, "mostly parents," most of whom, she said, had "asked that we allow parents be able to make a choice about masking."
"I know that as parents, we, by and large, have the best read on our children and their health and welfare. Many of those comments have included concerns for the mental and emotional strain experienced by their children while wearing masks, which I know to be real," Turbeville said. "It is my firm belief that a parent should have the right to make this decision for their own children and that teachers should likewise be able to make their own decision."
Turbeville added that she believed with the freedom to choose whether to mask one's children or not came a "great responsibility to keep children at home if they have any symptoms or if they have been exposed, and the same for the teachers and staff."
Following Turbeville's comments, Gibson reminded the school board that his motion was on the floor. The motion was subsequently seconded by school board member Kenneth Clemens.
"The difference in option 3 (universal masking) and option 4 (universal masking if the county positivity rate is more than 8%) is only going to be that when the number (positivity rate) dips, we can remove the masks?" board member Renee Skinner asked.
Tucker explained that with the universal masking proposal, the school board would have to meet and vote to lift masking requirements, whereas with the proposal where masking would be dependent on the local positivity rate, the mask requirement could be lifted day-to-day as the positivity rate changes.
"The way the proposed policy is that it would be reviewed at the next board meeting, so technically, if we go with option 3 (universal masking), we couldn't do away with masks until you meet again, but with option 4, as soon as the positivity rate dips down, then the very next day we could do away with masks," he said.
Gibson noted that the school board can call a special meeting any time.
"We're dealing with a more attractive (contagious) disease than we were before, now, correct? Like double?" Whatley asked.
"That's what they say, yes sir," Tucker said.
Turbeville reiterated her position against universally mandating masks in the district.
"Nobody ever wants their children to be ill, but I think that we need to think very carefully to what we are doing to them, both mental health and physical health. The struggles are real for some children that are forced to put on that mask. ... Forced to breathe what we're supposed to be breathing out," she said.
Gibson then asked for a roll call vote on his seconded motion.
Board members voted 4-3 to adopt Gibson's motion to implement a policy of universal masking for ESD students, employees and visitors in district buildings and buses. The board members who voted yes were Gibson, Whatley, Clemens and Vice President Vicky Dobson; Turbeville, Skinner and Keith Smith voted no.
Tucker said he was pleased with the board's decision.
"My recommendation was very similar to what the board voted on," he said. "The way I look at it is we have 5,000 students and staff that it is our responsibility to take care of, and I think we need to do absolutely everything we can to do that. I'd rather be someone who's maybe going a little overboard on protection than not doing enough."
"I'm fine with the board's decision. I think they made the right decision," he added. "I'd rather be safe than sorry."
By late Wednesday afternoon, Tucker said he'd already heard from parents with different opinions on masking in schools; some were happy with the board's decision, he said, while others were less so.
"I've heard from both sides. Some people are mad and some are happy, and that was going to be the case no matter which way we went," he said.
Tucker noted that during the 2020/2021 school year, the El Dorado School District was the only one in the county, and one of few in south Arkansas as a whole, that never shut down because of the virus.
"I think wearing masks helped that," he said. "I know people don't like wearing masks. I don't like wearing a mask, but if it's something I can do to help protect others and myself, I will do that."
He also cited CDC guidelines that say if two students are masked correctly and one contracts the virus and exposes another, the child who was exposed need not quarantine unless they test positive for the virus since they both had on masks.
El Dorado schools will start the 2021/2022 school year on Tuesday, August 17. Tucker said he thinks the district's universal masking policy will help make it another successful school year.
"Our job is to keep students in school so we can educate them," Tucker said. "Our hope is that people will wear masks, get vaccinated and the numbers will go down and we can move to something that's closer to normal than where we are now."
Vaccination in the district
The district held a public vaccine clinic for people 12 and older Wednesday morning, and Tucker said about 65 people attended.
At a regular school board meeting Monday evening, the school board voted to offer a $200 incentive to teachers to get vaccinated against the virus. Tucker said that if a teacher can show proof of vaccination by September 17 -- "that gives them enough time that if they haven't done anything yet there's plenty of time to get fully vaccinated," he said -- they will receive the bonus $200.
"According to a survey we put out -- about 350 responded -- it indicated that we have about 80% of our certified staff is vaccinated or nearly fully vaccinated," he said.
COVID-19 vaccines are free to everyone, regardless of whether they have health insurance or not, and are available at several locations in El Dorado.
Three COVID-19 vaccines developed by pharmaceutical companies Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson have been approved for use in the United States. The Pfizer vaccine has been approved for use in people as young as 12 years old, while the latter two are approved for use in anyone over the age of 18.
In Union County, COVID vaccines are available at Melvin's Discount Pharmacy, Walmart and the Union County Local Health Unit. To set a vaccination appointment at Melvin's, call 870-863-4155; for Walmart, visit walmart.com/COVID; and for the Local Health Unit, call 1-800-985-6030.
Additionally, the UAMS Mobile Vaccine Unit has two scheduled stops in El Dorado upcoming. On Friday, August 20, in partnership with Murphy USA, a clinic for people 12 and older will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the MUSA corporate office at 200 E. Peach Street; and on Wednesday, August 25, a vaccine clinic for people 12 and older will be held in partnership with the SHARE Foundation and the Interfaith Clinic from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the SHARE Foundation office at 2299 Champagnolle Rd.
Poll results
At the start of the month, the News-Times published an online poll asking readers how they felt about masking at school.
Between August 3 and Wednesday afternoon, 74 readers answered the poll.
Asked whether they supported "allowing local school districts to decide whether masking is appropriate for their students to prevent the spread of COVID-19," 47, or 63.5% responded "yes," while 27, or 36.5%, responded "no."
Of those who responded "yes," 19 said they were not a parent of a K-12 student. Of those who responded "no," two said they were not a parent of a K-12 student.
The results of the poll are not scientific.
