Parent addresses board about mask mandate

By Roxie Murphy, Staff Writer
Posted 12/30/20

BELLE — Concerned parents approached the Maries County R-2 Board of Education on Dec. 22 to ask them to reconsider their November vote to implement a mask mandate in January.

Parents Clay …

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Parent addresses board about mask mandate

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BELLE — Concerned parents approached the Maries County R-2 Board of Education on Dec. 22 to ask them to reconsider their November vote to implement a mask mandate in January.

Parents Clay and Sara McDaniel have a student enrolled at Belle High School. Sara McDaniel addressed the board.

“I am going to recognize that none of you are wearing masks except for the two,” McDaniel began, acknowledging that directors Garret Bialczyk, who put a mask on between the board goals meeting a few minutes earlier and the start of the regular board meeting at 7 p.m., and Amy Kiso, who has worn a mask consistently since last winter due to health concerns — were the only two wearing masks.

“I’d like to ask why you chose not to wear a mask and you voted last time to mandate masks in our district,” McDaniel said. “To me, that is a very clear statement that you all are making right now.”

McDaniel went on to say that she came to the meeting to tell them that she does not and will not support the mask mandate.

“I’d like to ask you personally if you personally disagree with wearing a mask, then how can you force your neighbor to wear one? Even if yous sit on the fence with your personal decision, how can you have expectations of others when you don’t have them for yourselves?

I feel that the data the school has collected has determined that our school is a safe place to be without enforcing a mask mandate. We currently have a zero transmission rate and we have acquired that without a mask mandate. The mandate will not improve that rate. I believe this to be all about choosing the correct verbiage to keep the health department off your back. If we have the word “mandate” in our policy, then we would no longer have to quarantine the students when in fact we have always had that power to not quarantine.”

McDaniel told the board that the health department guidelines are just guidelines, not laws.

“So I am asking that you stop sending our healthy kids home, you have always had the power to keep them in the classroom. A quarantined has never been mandated,” she said.

She added that something to consider is that the Maries County case numbers are trending down.

“December 21 numbers, as reported on the Phelps-Maries Dashboard, there were 27 active cases. Dec. 17, there were 48 active cases, Dec. 10 there were 64 active cases, Dec. 3, 74 active cases, and in fact, from the last school board meeting, there were 79 and it has dropped to 27. That is a 65 percent decrease in a month in Maries County,” McDaniel said. “Our school district has a zero percent transmission rate with only eight active totals from the school’s dashboard as of today.”

McDaniel told board members that if they are to follow the science with the numbers, the numbers are headed in the right direction — all without a mask mandate.

“So I don’t think a mandate is necessary to continue in that direction,” she said. “I am asking you all to reconsider your votes and vote again on the mask mandate, please vote no, and let our district be free of this government over-reach. If you will not cancel this mandate, then please tell the public when you plan on ending this mandate. What is the date, what is the end goal?”

McDaniel also asked that the district start publishing how many inactive cases they have in the district to correlate to the active cases that they publish on the website, as she feels that is also important for the public to know.

“We can’t just only see the negative, it is important that we see the positive and we are not publishing any positive at this point,” she said. “Finally, it is the expectation of your constituents to always cast a vote as a board member. It is a disservice to your community when you abstain. We voted you to be the voice for us, and we expect you to vote, so please always cast your vote and be a voice for your community, even if it ruffles feathers. We need to hear your voice.”

McDaniel thanked the board for letting her speak and asked them to consider revoting and remember the 65 percent decrease in the numbers during the month of December without the mask mandate, and the zero transmission rate within the school district.