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Staff Photo / Allie Vugrincic Former Boardman High School principal Cynthia Fernback talks about her experiences as an administrator dealing with COVID-19 in schools. A special Boardman Board of Education meeting on Tuesday night was called to discuss concerns about a 20-day mask tenure for all students, teachers and staff in the district.
BOARDMAN – “Boardman is a passionate community,” said Vickie Davis, chair of the education board, opening a special meeting Tuesday to discuss the school district’s 20-day mandatory mask policy for students, teachers and staff.
“The mask policy has become a national debate that has proven to be very divisive – but unfortunately does not have a clear answer that works for everyone. This has not been resolved across the country, and we will not resolve it here tonight, ”said Davis.
Davis made it clear that no decision on changing the mask’s mandate would be made at the night meeting. The warrant was announced 10 days before the start of the school year on Monday in a video by Superintendent Timothy Saxton. It remains in effect until the next regular meeting of the board.
September 27.
Still, more than a dozen Boardman residents – most of them parents – were not dissuaded from getting up and talking for almost 90 minutes.
The majority of speakers asked a question: who is the council trying to protect with the mask mandate?
Parents have repeatedly pointed to the increase in anxiety among students wearing masks and have claimed, based on their research, that the masks pose more harm than good. Some have called the masks a “petri dish that could cause pneumonia” and breeding grounds for bacteria, while others admitted that the masks may be helpful to some, but argued that most students do not. were not at high risk of developing life-threatening symptoms of COVID-19.
FEEDBACK
Brandon Berg, a parent of three students in the district, was moved when he remembered losing his stepmother, two grandparents and a close family friend to COVID-19.
“I am not anti-mask. I am not anti-vaccine. I am for the right solution for the right problem, ”said Berg. “The only problem here is that there is no threat of COVID-19 that we need to protect our children from, statistically speaking. ”
But he raised concerns about “oxygen deprivation” affecting cognitive functioning and causing headaches, dizziness or drowsiness.
Other speakers called the mandate an “override” that undermines the freedom of parents to choose what is best for their children.
Parent Donna Adams said a teacher asked her daughter if she was vaccinated, which she called a violation of her daughter’s privacy. “Yes it is!” several people shouted from the crowd, which numbered about 100 people.
But not everyone questioned the mask’s mandate. A few parents thanked the district for following the advice of health officials.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently updated their masking guidelines for K-12 schools, recommending universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students, and visitors, regardless of status. vaccine.
Nick Bruno, a local respiratory therapist and parent of two in the Boardman School District, shared what he saw working with COVID patients.
“I helped them while they were looking for air when they first came to our emergency room, because they were lying in the intensive care unit too short of breath to even eat, because they are alone and terrified, ”Bruno said.
He added that he and his colleagues wear masks all day at work and don’t get sick, have no problems socializing, and don’t feel their freedom has been taken away from them.
“What the mask does is prevent me from catching the virus. I know that because people with the coronavirus have coughed me hundreds of times and I haven’t had it,” Bruno said. He asked parents who do not feel personally at risk to consider the health of family members, neighbors and friends who may be.
PERSPECTIVE
While most of those who spoke were parents, Cynthia Fernback, retired principal at Boardman High School, spoke about the issue from the perspective of an administrator who had dealt with grades one and two. COVID-19 protocols.
“I’m here on my own, reluctantly, after retiring to avoid this kind of controversy,” Fernback said. She recounted months of continued positive cases and student quarantines.
“When a positive case was reported to us, we put together the seating plans for the student’s schedule. Next, we had to check the spacing between the seats in the classes and make a list of all the students who were in the exposure circle designated by the health department. This first step would generate between 10 and 20 student names for each positive case. Some days we had 10 or 11 positive cases to research contracts for. ”
Fernback went on to say that students who were allegedly quarantined would be “crushed”, even crying at times. When administrators called parents to relay the same message, some “screamed and screamed and raged,” Fernback said.
“At this time, if students are wearing masks, there will be no quarantine for positive cases,” Fernback said. “It doesn’t matter if I agree with this rule, or if you agree with this rule – it’s just the rule right now.”
Although the arguments were heated, the meeting remained civil. Almost everyone who spoke thanked the board for calling the special meeting to discuss the mask’s mandate.
Rich Wyant, father of a Boardman freshman, set up a website shortly after the tenure was announced: https://boardmanparents.com
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