Summer school mask requirement raises controversy

The Havre Public Schools Board of Trustees voted 6-2 to maintain current mask-wearing policies through June at the recommendation of HPS Superintendent Craig Mueller despite a sizable crowd of attendees, online and otherwise, who objected to the continuation of the policy.

Mueller said this is not a request to make a decision about next year's policy, something that will be discussed at the board's June 22 meeting, but only to continue current policy through June to account for the remainder of the schools' summer learning program.

He said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stated that it will update guidance for schools in the coming weeks, but until that update is released, and, given the recent uptick of COVID-19 cases in Hill County as well as the fact that only a few weeks of the program remain, it seems reasonable to hold course until the end of the month.

The policy requires students and staff to wear masks if they cannot maintain a distance of three feet from each other while in the school buildings.

Mueller said that in many places in the schools three feet of distance is very easy to maintain, but there are still instances when it's not practically possible to do that, and masks are required.

He said the policy is in line with recommendations by the CDC and is a matter of staff, student and public safety.

In the past week Havre Public Schools has had three new cases associated with the school district, and Tuesday the state reported, for the first time in months, Blaine, Chouteau, Hill and Liberty counties all having new cases on the same days. The case in Liberty County is its first since February.

Mueller said he wants things in the school to go back to normal as soon as possible, just like everyone else, but the situation calls for caution.

Before voting to implement Mueller's suggested continuation of current policy Trustee Jacob Ingram made a motion that the policy be amended to make masks optional.

He said many studies have shown that masks have little to no effect on the spread of COVID-19, but provided no such studies.

Virtually every major health or public health organization in the U.S. and worldwide says mask-wearing limits the spread of the virus considerably, particularly among those still unvaccinated.

Ingram also said studies exist that show the adverse effects of wearing a mask are greater than the benefits.

That is contradicted by virtually every major health institute and organization.

Ingram also pointed to a recent statement from the Office of Public Instruction that recommends that mask requirements be rescinded or allowed to expire.

Mueller said this recommendation is in conflict with that of the CDC, which recommends students be required to wear masks through the end of the 2020-21 school year, which the summer learning program is part of.

Ingram said the board needn't pay heed to the CDC and they have the authority to set their own policy.

All but one audience member present supported Ingram's motion, and of all the statements submitted online all but two agreed.

Comments from the audience ranged from desperate and emotional pleas to the promotion of unfounded conspiracy theories. Multiple statements contained misinformation regarding masks including the idea that the virus is too small to be blocked by masks rendering them ineffective.

COVID-19 is primarily spread via small respiratory droplets which masks have been shown to reduce the spread of.

Among the audience members who spoke was Jody Manuel who said his daughter, despite being an exceptional student, has become the family's first high school drop-out due to policies like the school's mask mandate.

His testimony quickly became conspiratorial in tone as he said he views this conflict about masks as a choice between centralized federal control and local authority, lamenting the fact that airports and other places seem like alternate realities due to health mandates.

He said the board should embrace their own identity and not become part of the system that puts its boots on people's necks.

Another audience member said his child would no longer come to school at all if masks were required.

Rep. Ed Hill, R-Havre, a former member of the board also spoke, saying he had been asked to come by constituents. He said the school should follow the advice of OPI and make mask-wearing optional and touted the importance of local control.

Registered Nurse Courtney Finneman lamented the effect she thinks social distancing and mask wearing had on children, including her own, and their ability to play.

Finneman said her child was excited to attend kindergarden, but when speaking to a teacher she was told children would not be able to play together with a play kitchen because they needed to social distance.

"There's none of us in this room who can say they were not allowed to play in kindergarden," she said, crying.

She said because the CDC is the only authority recognized by the board she would point out that the organization acknowledges that play is an important part of a child's development, one recognized by the United Nations as a right.

"You are depriving them of that right, all of you," she said.

She said her child was elated when she thought that she wouldn't have to wear a mask at school any more, but when the policy didn't change she cried, and said, "I'm never going to know what kindergarden is like without a mask."

Finneman said that she's been silenced and when the board chair told her her time was up, she said she was finishing her statement regardless, and if the board didn't like it they could call the police.

Another audience member, J.D. Cass, rhetorically asked how much hatred, stress and suicide has been driven by mask wearing, though he provided no evidence that mask wearing has any correlation or causal relationship with suicide or suicidal ideation. And he said he knows an honors student who said they would rather drop out than use distanced learning again.

He also compared social distancing, mask requirements, and the vaccines, which he claimed, incorrectly, were a secret bio-weapon, to "death by 1,000 cuts," a form of torture and execution in ancient Imperial China.

He said the pandemic actions are a conspiracy to take over the world and reduce the population.

Eleven statements submitted online supported making masks optional, but the meeting was not devoid of advocates for continued caution.

Havre Public Schools Education Foundation Board Chair Kyle Leeds said continuing the policy is sensible given the recent uptick in cases in the area and the fact that the world is still in the midst of a crisis and herd immunity is still a long way off.

He said that the Biden Administration recently pointed out that the U.K. is seeing the spread of a highly-infectious variant of COVID-19 that is becoming more and more prominent in people age 12 to 20.

"We're still in a global pandemic," Leeds said.

Hill County Board of Health Member Erica McKeon-Hanson strongly encouraged the board to take Mueller's advice and continue the policy through June.

Her statement, submitted virtually, said the county is seeing an increase in cases, many in young people.

The motion to make masks optional was voted down 2-6 with Ingram and Trustee Brittnee' Loch voting yes, and all others voting no.

Later a motion was made to adopt Mueller's recommendation which passed 6-2 with Loch and Ingram voting no and all others voting yes.

The next special meeting of the board will be June 22 at 12:15 p.m. at the Robins Administration Building, and the next regular meeting of the board will be July 13 at 6:30 p.m. at Havre Middle School.