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Debating the fairness of continuing virtual meetings while children are expected to return to the classroom later this month, the Del Norte Unified School District set a date for when they will return to in-person deliberations.

Originally expected to return to in-person meetings this week, trustees on Monday voted 4-1 in favor of coming together at the district office on Aug. 26. Board President Angela Greenough dissented. The School Board will meet via Zoom and Facebook Live on Thursday.

Most students will return to school in-person on Aug. 30, though masks will be required when they’re indoors unless they’re eating or drinking or if they’re exempt.

In July, the School Board set Thursday, Aug. 12, as the date for its first in-person meeting since the pandemic began in March 2020, according to Superintendent Jeff Harris.

On Monday, Harris said a microphone system that would allow remote participants to hear speakers clearly while dampening background noise has yet to be installed. Plus, he said, with the recent surge in COVID-19 cases, county health officials and Sutter Coast Hospital are warning against large gatherings.

“As of this morning, there are 159 active cases and 17 in the emergency room (and) intensive care,” he said, citing statistics available Friday. “They’re kind of at capacity.”

Later Monday afternoon, the Del Norte Public Health Branch had confirmed that 72 new cases were reported over the weekend, making for a total of 231 active cases in the county. Nine new cases were reported among the county’s incarcerated population.

There are currently 17 people in the hospital from COVID-19, according to the county Public Health Branch.

On June 11, California Governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order rescinding his stay-at-home order from March 19, 2020 and laid the groundwork for a “gradual risk-based reopening of the economy.”

This provisions allowing public agencies to hold virtual meetings under the Brown Act expiring by Sept. 30, according to Harris. Unless the Legislature changes it, meetings will have to be open to the public and a majority of trustees will have to be present after Sept. 30, he said.

Though Harris said the School Board had previously discussed returning to in-person meetings this week, Trustee Area 4 representative, Charlaine Mazzei, said there wasn’t a vote in July to resume in-person meetings on Thursday. Trustees also didn’t talk about the rules, about whether masks would be required or the number of people in the room would be limited, she said.

“It was never a conversation. Never a vote,” she said. “I don’t feel like I had an opportunity to voice my concerns.”

Mazzei said it was neither safe nor responsible to allow the public to attend meetings in-person while the hospital is “at capacity.”

“There is no sign that it’s going to get better any time soon,” Mazzei said. “We just had another large public gathering event this weekend that’s probably going to hit within the next couple of weeks. I think we just need to see what the conditions are.”

Mazzei’s colleague, Trustee Area 3 representative, Frank Magarino, said he was frustrated at a potential last-minute change to the School Board’s previously agreed-upon plan to allow public attendance at meetings Thursday.

Magarino noted that people are traveling through the area, the Del Norte County Fair had just concluded and “people are walking around like nothing’s happening,” but by not meeting in-person the School Board is disappointing parents, kids and the public.

“In their mind, they’re expecting to be in person whether that’s by lottery or whatever,” he said. “Even if it’s just a few folks coming in person and now it’s not the case anymore. I understand the importance of being cautious and wearing masks and all that, but, again, we’re going well over a year and a half of this and it seems like the school’s the only one getting battered every time something comes up.”

Greenough, who tuned into the meeting remotely because she and her family were a close contact of someone who tested positive for COVID-19, said it didn’t make sense to keep meetings closed to the public while allowing students to return to classrooms.

She noted that trustees are asking staff to resume interacting with kids in person while she and her colleagues continue to maintain their distance.  

“What’s stopping us from saying no school at the end of the month?” Greenough asked. “If we say we’re not going to open up for the public, what’s going to stop us from saying we’re not going to open up school at the end of the month?”

Both Mazzei and her colleague, Trustee Area 1 representative, Don McArthur, said opening up schools and meeting in-person are two different things.

McArthur noted that state and federal health officials have determined that kids can stay safe if they follow masking, hand washing and — last year — distancing requirements. Postponing an in-person School Board meeting this week is honoring the request of local public health authorities, he said, and not contributing to the “velocity of the spread of the virus in the community.”

“We have had these gatherings locally, especially with the fair where people are walking around like nothing’s happening and we can take our individual risks and make our decisions,” McArthur said. “But I think we should consider our role in the community too.”

Mazzei also pointed out that unlike with students who have been unable to see their teachers and peers in person because of the pandemic, there is no social emotional impact to not being able to come to a public school board meeting.

The benefit to the public to “sit in the chair and watch us do our work,” was not worth the risk, she said.

“The two factors are different,” Mazzei said. “They’re not a comparison to each other. I think it’s fine to say we’re going to stay closed to the public. Or, if you want to be open to the public, are we going to say only a certain number of people can come? Are we going to require masks? Are we going to require chairs be distanced from each other? What are the rules going to be to keep everybody in the room safe? Because the Delta variant can still be passed by people who are vaccinated. It’s not anything to be messed around with.”

Greenough said she was willing to make masks a requirement to attend a School Board meeting and to limit the number of participants in the room.

“I don’t anticipate 100-plus people like what happened at the fair to be at the school board — that room can only hold so many people,” she said. “I know we’ve had huge crowds in the past and there was a question about capacity at that point too, but if we’re going to open up schools … If the protocols are good for schools to be opened up, then protocols should be good for the Board meeting to be in public.”

During public comment, Angelina Countess-Bieber said if the district is allowing students to return to the classroom later this month, they should resume open school board meetings. She also took issue with a Sunday decision to hold Monday’s special meeting, saying no one pays attention during the weekend.

“Parents have a lot of concerns,” she said. “They want to find out exactly how school is going to open and what the protocols are. People want to get back to normal.”

Toward the end of the discussion, McArthur proposed scheduling the first in-person meeting for September while Magarino wanted to keep the Aug. 12 date this week. Their colleague, Trustee Area 5 representative suggested a compromise to schedule first in-person public meeting for Aug. 12.

“I hear all sides,” she said. “People are still fearful. Those people that are still fearful will be able to do it virtually. If you’re fearful or you’re not feeling well … you can stay home and still participate in the Board meeting, but it gives those people who want to be here and be in person a chance to do so.”

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