BELLE — Maries R-2 School Board President Joey Butler II voiced his concerns about the long-term implications of a mask mandate during the Dec. 22 school board meeting, adding that he has been in contact with several people — including the Phelps-Maries County Health Department and Missouri School Board Association — collecting data.

“I have been contacting some people on various things,” Butler began. “I know I was against the mask-wearing to start with but I still have questions. I talked to the health department and I talked to MSBA.”

Butler said when he spoke with MSBA he asked point-blank “what if we don’t do a mask-mandate and even don’t follow our quarantine guidelines like I have heard of other schools doing?”

The short answer is that the Maries R-2 School District could do exactly that — but there may be consequences.

“The long side of that is you set yourself up for a lot of liability,” Butler said.

While the Phelps-Maries County Health Department Director Patrick Stites said they don’t have anyone investigating if a district is operating quarantines like they should, if a district is repeatedly disobeying the suggested quarantine guidelines then the state health department could step in and close the school.

“MSBA said there is a case where some drastic measures have been taken against a school district,” Butler said. “The guy at Phelps County has been very helpful and very smart, and (Stites) is the same guy that Dr. Basham has been talking to.”

Butler said when he spoke with Stites, he told him that he has personal convictions about mask mandating, but they have to make decisions as a board and look out for the community, as well as the students.

“I told him I am trying to balance all of these things and it kind of feels like I am chasing my tail,” Butler said. “He said ‘I totally understand that’ when I figured he’d say ‘you’re an idiot.’”

The director did share his concerns with Butler about mask mandating.

“The thing with the mask mandate — it’s not an end-all. The virus is going to continue to spread and where the latest United States numbers and the Missouri numbers are, they are still dropping,” Butler said. “I am not saying people are not going to die from it or that it is not a real virus. Those rates are going down.”

Butler said he doesn’t see why they would look at those rates now just because the government says “hey, you are all gonna die if you don’t wear a mask.” Then every cold and flu season that comes around they have to keep a mask mandate in place in order to be consistent.

“I know we wouldn’t do that, but at the same time, that is kind of what it looks like,” Butler said. “If we are going to do it for this, then we are going to do it for that. Are we just going to wear a mask for the rest of our life? Or make the kids wear a mask?”

Butler told the board they don’t have to “go with the flow” one hundred percent just because their neighbors or other school districts are doing it.

“Some aren’t — but it is working for some and not working for others,” Butler said. “That is what Patrick said — they can’t make a decision that is going to affect everyone the same way — especially in areas like ours where we don’t have a huge population. What they are suggesting might not work as well in our community as it does in others.”

Butler said the Maries County numbers don’t compare to other areas.

“If you look at our numbers and compare what Missouri is doing and what our school has done, it doesn’t reflect that we should force kids to wear masks,” Butler said.

The health department has added that they have their own concerns with requiring students to wear masks, including social-development in kids, the process by which a child learns to interact with others around them.

“They are afraid it is going to hinder that,” Butler said. “The other one is with English — when students try to watch the teachers talk and see their lips move. Even from him, it is not about catching every droplet that you can. There is a whole range of other health that could decline because of this.”

Butler said as of right now, students in the Maries County R-2 School District are healthy.

“As of right now, MSBA has stated that we should not withdraw from quarantining, which is what I would have liked to have seen,” Butler said. “But we have to be conscientious that we could set ourselves up for a lawsuit — this kid could get it, take it home, people die. Is that going to happen? I don’t know, but we do have to be mindful of it.”

Butler suggested, in conclusion to speaking with both of his aforementioned sources, that the district should postpone their mask mandate for a month or two.

“I know that Dr. Basham wanted to get this in order so some kids could switch to virtual and their parents could make those decisions, but I think there is a lot more information and believe that the data and what is happening in our district shows that we do not need to have a mask mandate,” Butler concluded.

Board Director Tom Kinsey said before they discussed the mask mandate further, he wanted to make sure they stayed legal in discussing the topic by making a motion that they revoke the mandate.

“We can do that, but I think that would create some chaos for Dr. Basham,” Butler said.

Superintendent Dr. Lenice Basahm said she was concerned that if they revoke the mask mandate rather than postpone it, and they have a large increase of students who become ill with COVID-19, it could be hard to get the board back together and put the mandate back together.

Kinsey asked Basham what she would suggest.

“Let’s say that we postpone (the mandate) by a month,” Kinsey suggested.

Board Vice President Dawn Hicks seconded the motion and opened the topic for discussion.