- April 24, 2024
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Parents protest a mandatory mask policy outside the Volusia County Schools' DeLand Administrative Complex on Tuesday, Aug. 31. Photo by Jarleene Almenas
Parents protest a mandatory mask policy outside the Volusia County Schools' DeLand Administrative Complex on Tuesday, Aug. 31. Photo by Jarleene Almenas
A woman leads the crowd in singing the national anthem outside the Volusia County Schools' DeLand Administrative Complex on Tuesday, Aug. 31. Photo by Jarleene Almenas
Parents and residents opposing masks sing the national anthem outside the Volusia County Schools' DeLand Administrative Complex on Tuesday, Aug. 31. Photo by Jarleene Almenas
Signs against vaccines and masks line the Volusia County Schools' DeLand Administrative Complex on Tuesday, Aug. 31. Photo by Jarleene Almenas
The line to enter the board chambers at the Volusia County Schools' DeLand Administrative Complex wrapped around the building on Tuesday, Aug. 31. Photo by Jarleene Almenas
The Volusia County School Board voted 3-2 at its special meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 31, to make masks mandatory, with a medical opt-out only, for children in grades K-12, effective Sept. 7.
School Board members Jamie Haynes and Anita Burnette voted against. The mandate will be in effect until Oct. 15.
The decision was reached as the shouts and chants of people outside the Volusia County Schools' DeLand Administrative Complex could be heard inside. The crowd could be heard throughout the five-hour meeting — phrases including "Fire Fritz," "USA" and "We will not comply" often interrupting the School Board members and district staff or forcing them to speak louder into their microphones — and once the vote was made, the crowd started to chant, "Shame on you."
Still, the board members didn't waver from their decision. Before the public was allowed to comment, a period that was limited to two hours, the board was given an overview of the number of COVID-19 cases by the Department of Health, as well as the Leon County circuit judge's verbal ruling issued last week in the legal battle over the governor's executive order barring school districts from enacting mask mandates for students during the pandemic.
According to the Volusia County DOH, 824 children ages 5-18 in Volusia County tested positive for COVID-19 during Aug. 16-31, a period that encompasses the first two weeks of school, and represents an 847% increase compared to the number of cases reported during the first two weeks of school in 2020. From Aug, 31, 2020 to Sept. 13, 2020, DOH reported 87 cases.
"Our mission is to educate children, and right now, we are not doing that well," School Board member Ruben Colon said. "The amount of disruption that the positive cases are causing because those students are out for 10 days a pop, and the amount of disruption that the quarantine is causing because of following the latest guidance from the Florida Department of Education — we're putting out children in droves."
In two weeks, Colon said the district has quarantined about 1,300 children due to possible exposure, following the guidance established by the Florida Department of Education. By following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's guidance, which takes into account universal masking, the number of students that will need to be quarantined should decrease. Under DOE's current guidance, all students — with the exception of those who have been infected in the past 90 days or are fully vaccinated —are sent to quarantine if exposed to COVID-19. They may only return after 1) receiving a negative test (after four days for the asymptomatic), 2) being asymptomatic for seven days after exposure, 3) 10 days after the onset of symptoms or a positive test, or 4) with a written permission from a health care provider.
Under the CDC's guidance, a child who was within 3 to 6 feet of an infected student, if both are wearing masks, does not need to quarantine. The district will follow that guidance, starting Wednesday, Sept. 1.
Haynes, who has been in favor of an optional face covering policy since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, questioned the COVID-19 data provided to the board, claiming that many of those cases never stepped foot on a school campus. She also asked why other mitigating strategies were removed when masks were made optional. She asked that the board not change their stance on face coverings, as parents chose to return to brick-and-mortar schools because of it; VCS did not provide Volusia Live as an option this year.
"But why do parents out there, or grandparents or aunts and uncles, think that the burden of their health — an adult's health — is resting on the shoulders of a child?" Haynes said.
The disruption in the board chambers following this statement prompted the chair to call for a five minute recess. One by one, the board members left the chambers. Upon their return, Chair Linda Cuthbert said it was important that the board members have the freedom to speak their minds and the clapping, booing and cheering was not appropriate.
Cuthbert said that, when the district made masks optional, they didn't expect that the Delta variant would affect the community as much as it has. The variant is attacking every age group, and Cuthbert said they all know someone who has died from the virus.
"This is extremely difficult for all of us to make these very tough decisions because for every one person we're helping, another person is not going to feel happy about this," Cuthbert said. "These are the shoes we are filling right now."
But, the chair continued, they can't keep things the way they are.
"We will never know if the mask is going to work if we don't try to institute it for a temporary point to protect our children," she said.
The mask mandate will provide exceptions for students in special education who cannot remove or put on a mask themselves. It also excludes students in pre-K. Like last year, masks will not be required during recess or while exercising or playing sports. If children do not comply with the mask mandate, they will be sent home. Parents seeking a medical opt-out have a grace period until Sept. 13 to bring in a letter from a health care provider.
Haynes criticized the enforcement decision, pushing back on why they would send kids home for not complying with a mask mandate if the goal was to make sure more of them were in the classroom learning.
"What we're trying to do is to stop the spread of the virus as quickly as possible so that, not only will we have fewer children infected, but we will have fewer children in quarantine," said School Board member Carl Persis, who seconded Colon's motion to make masks mandatory.
The board can't cherry-pick which guidelines to follow, Persis said. He was one of the first board members to propose they masks optional, but now the data has changed.
"It's not perfect," he sad. "It wasn't perfect last year... But last year we didn't have near the numbers, not even close to the numbers we have this year."
