School Board makes masks optional for WCPS

Wayne County students and staff will have the option to wear a mask or not this fall, but there could be quarantine consequences if they choose not to wear one and they are exposed to COVID-19.

The Board of Education voted 4-2 to reject a proposal made by Len Henderson and seconded by Patricia Burden to require masks for staff and students this fall.

Voting against the measure were members Wade Leatham, Tommy Sanders, Jennifer Strickland and chairman Chris West.

Board vice chairman Dr. Joe Democko was absent.

The board subsequently approved a measure to make mask-wearing optional for students and staff, with Henderson and Burden voting against the measure.

West voted for the approval of optional mask-wearing, but emphasized that the board not wait to consider changing the mask policy should the district experience large numbers of forced quarantines or any significant uptick in infections or new state mandates.

“I feel strongly that we should not wait,” West said.

The reason for the concern is the change in the state guidelines for schools, which emphasize the need for children to be back in school and lift or significantly change some of the requirements to facilitate students being back in in-person learning.

The latest update, released this past month, is based on data collected from schools through a Duke University study, said Assistant Superintendent Dr. Marcia Manning, the administrator tasked with implementing COVID-19 policy in the schools throughout the pandemic.

Manning said the study, as well as the district’s own data, indicated good news for the schools in general and Wayne County Public Schools in specific.

“Schools were demonstrated to be very, very safe,” Manning said.

Manning said Wayne County followed the StrongSchools NC Toolkit to the letter — the state’s guidance on how to operate schools during the pandemic.

The July update, she said, removes some critical limitations, with the aim of acknowledging the importance of getting students back in school.

She added that WCPS officials also support that goal.

The guidance no longer requires schools to limit visitors; ban large groups (including assemblies and field trips); to cohort students (divide students into smaller groups and alternate time in school); to observe one-way traffic in school buildings; to symptom screen daily; and to observe social distancing in classrooms and buses.

Manning added that the district will also no longer have to provide remote instruction or to enforce the 6-foot distance requirement, which “multiple studies proved it was unnecessary.”

The guidance also includes a provision, Manning said, advising that students and teachers — vaccinated and unvaccinated — should wear masks.

And that is where the question comes in, she said.

Under the new rules, with appropriately and consistently masked students and staff, exposed/fully vaccinated (or COVID positive within the last three months); and exposed/not fully vaccinated K-12 students, when both the confirmed case and the exposed individual were masked, will not be required to quarantine.

Exposed/not fully vaccinated staff and other adults will be required to observe 10-14 days of quarantine.

The requirements shift significantly when there is no masking policy, forcing students and staff into quarantine, and forcing students to miss school, Manning said.

“Masking of K-12 students and staff will prevent unvaccinated students who are exposed to a COVID positive from missing up to 10 instructional days,” she said.

Manning also said masks would add another layer of protection against the Delta variant, which she said the CDC has noted is characterized by “rapidly accelerating viral transmission and increased contagiousness.”

Because of that, she added, the CDC has recommended universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students and visitors to K-12 schools regardless of vaccination status.

In response to a question from board members about the staff’s recommendation on mask rules, Manning emphasized that her role has been to implement policy, not to set it, but added that she and WCPS personnel have followed the advice of state and local experts.

The SafeSchools toolkit, which Manning said has been the district’s guiding document since the pandemic started, “strongly recommends that all ‘shoulds’ be implemented.”

That would mean that mandating masks would be the prudent course.

The concern, school officials said, is to keep students in school.

If infections force quarantines because there is no mask mandate in place, students will lose the face-to-face time they need because of the new rules.

Henderson, before making his motion to implement a mask policy, said the question is about safety, especially in light of the new Delta variant.

Students and teachers should wear masks not just for their own protection, but also out of courtesy to others, to keep them from being exposed to COVID.

Strickland, speaking against Henderson’s motion, said the time has come to put the decision about what is right for the county’s children in the hands of their parents.

“We are seeing transmission (rate) is extremely low for children,” she said. “But the emotional damage is so high when they are masked.”

Strickland added that parents should understand the risk and the danger that their child might end up in quarantine if they are exposed.

“What about the child sitting next to them?” Henderson asked.

“They can wear a mask,” Strickland said.

Parents should make that choice for their children, she added.

“This is not a decision that should be made by this board,” Strickland said.

“We need to put the parents back into the equation,” Leatham said.

Burden, who seconded Henderson’s motion, emphasized that the board should be thinking of students.

“Our responsibility is for the children first,” she said.

Board members agreed to keep a close eye on the numbers once school starts and to address a change in policy should it become necessary.