A mask mandate will take effect Wednesday at the Eastern Pulaski Community School Corporation. The school board approved the mask requirement by a vote of six-to-one during a special meeting Monday, with Scott Hanson opposing.
Superintendent Dara Chezem said all students will be required to wear masks in school and on buses. But they’ll be able to take them off during PE class, extracurricular sports, meal times, and outdoor recess.
Chezem said Eastern Pulaski has seen a dramatic increase in COVID-19’s impact this school year. Since school began, 527 students and staff members have had to quarantine, some for multiple times, while 71 of them have tested positive. The mask requirement means the school corporation will no longer have to quarantine students who don’t have symptoms.
Of the six public comments offered Monday, five were against the mandate, citing the possible adverse effects, among other concerns. Racheal Honeycutt questioned whether younger children would even wear them as the current health guidelines envision. “Kids don’t wear masks correctly and consistently all the time, let alone adults,” she said.
But Dr. Dan Anderson argued that the benefits outweigh the potential risks. “I’ve been wearing a mask every day for 20 years, pretty much all day, and this is the type of mask I wear all day, every day in the OR,” he said. “Every brain surgeon in the country wears a mask like this all day long. They do 16-, 24-hour cases. It’s just not real. The concept of experimentation by wearing a mask, that ship has sailed. It’s not experimentation. It’s been done for years and years and years.”
The mask mandate also came with favorable recommendations from the Eastern Pulaski Teachers Association and the school corporation’s principals. Elementary School Principal Jill Collins said absences are up, and teachers have been overwhelmed with contact tracing duties.
