Jessica Cejnar Andrews / Friday, Feb. 25, 2022 @ 11:26 a.m. / COVID-19, Education
Del Norte Unified to End Mask Enforcement in Classrooms Starting Monday
Photo by Nurse Together via Wikimedia Commons | Public Domain
Previously:
• DNUSD Board to Discuss Lifting Its Student Masking Requirements
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Students in Del Norte County Unified School District will not be excluded from classrooms for refusing to wear a mask, though the Board of Trustees’ vote Thursday was far from unanimous.
The Board voted 3-2 in favor of taking an “education-based approach” starting Monday for students who refuse to wear a face covering. Each school will be required to post California Department of Public Health Guidance requiring masking indoors in school settings. Staff must also urge students to wear a face covering, offering them one if they’re without, and to inform their parents in writing if they refuse
Trustees on Thursday also directed DNUSD administrators to begin negotiating with bargaining units for its teaching and classified staff since the new masking approach constitutes a change in working conditions. Enforcing student masking was a component of the memorandum of understanding between the district and the Del Norte Teachers Association, according to DNUSD Superintendent Jeff Harris.
Board President Don McArthur and Trustee Area 4 representative Charlaine Mazzei dissented, saying they were concerned about possible legal ramifications to the district, teachers and themselves personally for relaxing mask enforcement among students.
“I am sorry people believe mandates don’t have the force of law, but they do, and I am not going to risk this district’s future or my personal future on supporting something that goes against those mandates,” Mazzei said. “But I do think we should be moving toward, ‘What are we going to do when this guidance goes away?’ If they come out on Monday and announce that they're going to become voluntary, we still have to have a plan to implement that.”
Del Norte Unified is now among roughly 20 school districts in California that have made masking optional for its students, going against CDPH guidance that still requires indoor face coverings in K12 schools, child care and healthcare settings. On Thursday, Harris had submitted a sample resolution to the Board of Trustees modeled on a resolution Roseville Joint Union High School District approved on Feb. 10, which explicitly stated it would not follow CDPH guidance.
Other school districts that relaxed their mask requirements for students include El Dorado Union High School District and Clovis Unified School District.
Harris said Clovis’s decision Wednesday didn’t make masks optional, but instead focused on the enforcement aspect of mask requirements.
“We have the ability to say here’s how we’re going to enforce it,” Harris told trustees Thursday, referring to Clovis’s decision. “Our enforcement is going to say, when you come to school and you don’t have a mask, we’re going to offer you a mask. If you refuse to wear a mask, we’re going to send your family a reminder letting them know about the legal obligation [that] you have to wear a mask.”
CDPH relaxed indoor mask requirements in most businesses and public settings on Feb. 15. Gov. Gavin Newsom is also expected to make an announcement regarding masking in public schools on Monday.
Addressing a room packed with parents, teachers, students and community members, Harris said the governor’s executive orders carry legal weight because they fall under the California Emergency Services Act, which allows Newsom to declare a state of emergency and issue executive orders during the emergency.
Those refusing to follow those orders could be found guilty of a misdemeanor, which includes fines of up to $1,000 or six months imprisonment, Harris said.
Following CDPH guidance also falls under California Health and Safety Code, which allows them to enforce or adopt regulations related to strict or modified isolation, Harris told the public.
Harris also referred to an Aug. 24, 2021 letter to school districts from CDPH Executive Director Tomas Aragon, stating that schools do not have the authority or discretion to opt out of enforcing masking. That letter also stated that not following those masking protocols could expose school districts and their leaders to legal and financial risks, according to Harris.
“School districts and individuals face significant financial liability if someone contracts COVID in the absence of universal masking,” Harris told the public. “They face a similar liability if they refuse to implement mask requirements if a member of staff gets COVID and significant exposure if a staff member or students die of COVID. That’s the language right out of that August letter.”
Teachers and principals could also put their credential at risk if they don’t enforce the state’s masking requirements, Harris said. The Commission on Teacher Credentialing could “pull a teacher’s credential so they could not teach” if they receive a complaint, he said.
DNTA president Marshall Jones also reminded trustees of the MOU it has with the school district, stating that while teachers want the mask mandates to end, the “reality is the law is the law.”
“Why are we having this conversation when on Monday, they’re going to announce it and more than likely by the 15th of March, the mask mandate will be over?” Jones asked. “I recommend you do the right thing and follow CDPH guidelines that we agreed with the district (on) and signed an MOU.”
Kathryn Lee, president of the CSEA Great Northern 178 chapter, said classified staff’s mask requirement falls under Cal/OSHA requirements.
“We know student mask mandates do not follow under our negotiations and we are aware of some school districts lifting mask mandates for all and leaving the options and responsibility up for students and staff,” Lee said. "We can encourage our staff to wear masks and we can encourage them and supply them with N95 masks to those who want to wear them. In that light, CSEA would like to lend our support to lifting mask mandates for all.”
Charlotte Svolos, DNTA vice president, said Cal/OSHA’s masking guidelines don’t expire until April 16.
“I am very much a rule follower, but I also understand passing a resolution that’s a belief statement if you make minor alterations to respect local employees,” she said. “I don’t want to lose my credential.”
During public comment, parents and students stated that though they weren’t suspended or expelled from school for not complying with the mask requirement, they felt they had been bullied by teachers and their peers for not wearing a mask.
Charlie Tygart, a 15-year-old freshman at Del Norte High, described an encounter she had with two hall monitors while unmasked.
“One of them grabs me by the backpack, jerking me backwards. I turn around and she yelled, ‘You need to wear a mask now!’” Tygart told trustees. “I’m just astounded by what monitors and teachers will do just to get you to put a mask on. After that incident, they haven’t bothered me at all even without a mask, but they’ll target my friends about wearing masks. It’s total discrimination.”
Meagan Meadows said she sent her children, 6 and 9, to a private school and a charter school last year. She said she refused to put them in public school during distance learning, though her 9-year-old recently had to quarantine.
“My 9-year-old has to Zoom in with his reading teacher. He said, ‘Mom, she actually gets to see my face? Is she going to know who I am?’” Meadows told trustees. “How sad is it that this is what our kids are dealing with?”
Not everyone was in favor of lifting mask mandates prematurely. Chrystal Helton, a Klamath resident whose children go to Crescent Elk Middle School and Margaret Keating Elementary School, said there haven’t been any issues regarding masks.
“If you think masks are oppressive, come talk to one of us in Klamath about real oppression,” she said. “We have not had any issues on campus with masks and you’re talking to a group of people down here who definitely don’t trust the government.”
Joe Hostler, who has three school-aged children, pointed out that the pandemic isn’t over.
“I hope we continue to protect each other and be selfless and not talk about freedoms and rights but about responsibilities to each other,” Hostler said. “The reality for many of us is we do have people who cannot get vaccinated, people who cannot do all these steps. I encourage the school board to keep asking kids to wear masks a little bit longer to help keep us safer.”
As of Thursday, Del Norte County had a total of 173 active COVID-19 cases, according to the Public Health Branch. Five people are in the hospital with coronavirus symptoms.
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