Masks will once again be optional at the North Judson-San Pierre School Corporation, but they could become mandatory if student quarantines start creeping back up. Under a measure approved by the school board Tuesday, masks will be optional starting Monday. But if the percentage of students in quarantine reaches 15 in a specific school building, a two-week mask mandate would be put in place for that school.
Superintendent Dr. Annette Zupin said the recent mask mandate succeeded in reducing quarantines and getting students back in the classroom, but the complaints it’s brought from the community have become too taxing on school staff. “The conflict and the contention that the mask mandate has caused in our school community is not something I wish to continue,” she said. “Board members and school officials, school nurses and secretaries receive the brunt of upset angry parents and community members. None of these people deserve that.”
Under the current directives from the Indiana Department of Health, schools are required to identify any close contacts of individuals who test positive for COVID-19. However, if the school enforces a face covering requirement, close contacts do not have to quarantine if they don’t have symptoms.
Board members spent several minutes considering a different plan that would have put the school corporation in violation of the state’s orders. Board Member Jeri Brewer’s proposal would have followed many of the CDC’s guidelines. But masks would have been optional and parents would have been able to opt out of quarantine requirements, as long as they promised in writing to monitor their children for symptoms and keep them home if they developed.
Board President Derrick Stalbaum noted that violating state health directives could lead to major liability concerns. “It’s against the law,” he said. “I’m not going to break the law. I have an oath to the school corporation. When I became a board member, I made an oath that I would support the laws of the State of Indiana, and I’m not going to break that oath, just to be blunt. I’m not going to, even though this is something that I believe in, because I do.”
Brewer’s plan was eventually voted down by a vote of three-to-two, but board members later approved a motion to enact it, if and when health officials’ orders allow it. Meanwhile, Brewer abstained from voting on the other plan, the one that makes masks optional up to a 15-percent quarantine threshold. “I do not want to go back to saying anything about masks,” Brewer said. “I don’t want to tell anybody to wear a mask, ever again, in my life, forever.”
Opinions were split in the two public comments given. Debbie Anderson spoke against mask mandates and contact tracing, saying masks are dumbing kids down. High School Senior Travis Hidden, though, wanted the board to continue with the full mask mandate, due to the importance of keeping students in the classroom.
