Public split on mask mandate in schools

By Roxie Murphy, Staff Writer
Posted 11/25/20

MARIES COUNTY — An anonymous survey published Thursday on The Advocate’s Facebook page questioned 19 respondents about how the Maries R-2 community felt about implementing an optional …

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Public split on mask mandate in schools

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MARIES COUNTY — An anonymous survey published Thursday on The Advocate’s Facebook page questioned 19 respondents about how the Maries R-2 community felt about implementing an optional mask mandate within the school district to avoid student quarantines if both parties were wearing a mask.

A total of 178 responses came from residents in Maries, Gasconade and Osage counties of which 85 or 47.8 percent said a mask mandate should not go into effect; 81 or 45.5 percent said a mandate should go into effect and 12 or 6.7 percent said maybe a mask mandate should go into effect.

A total of 144 or 80.9 percent of respondents had students in their school district; and 34 or 19.1 percent said they did not have a student enrolled in their district.

Of the 178 responses, 100 or 56.2 percent were from the Owensville/Gerald area; 23 or 12.9 percent were from Linn; 18 or 10.1 percent were from the Belle/Bland area; 12 or 6.7 percent of respondents answered from Vienna, Westphalia, and Hermann; one respondent or .6 percent responded from the Chamois school district.

Participants responded to a Nov. 12 release by Gov. Mike Parson, in conjunction with the Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS), and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) included modifications to Missouri’s K-12 school reopening and operating guidelines. Suggested modifications included an optional mask mandate for each school district to avoid excessive quarantines if both the COVID-19 positive case and close contact case were both wearing masks.

According to the survey that was closed at 11 a.m. on Monday morning, 16 of 19 community responses said they have a student in the district — of which five said a mask mandate should be implemented, nine said a mask mandate should not be implemented and one said maybe a mask mandate should be implemented.

The remaining three of the 19 community members surveyed who do not have students in the district were mostly in favor of a mask mandate. According to those responses, two said a mask mandate should be implemented, one said a mask mandate should not be implemented.

A respondent who said they have a child in school said a mask mandate should be in place, “for the safety of the children.” The respondent was the only one in favor of the mandate to leave a comment.

A person who wrote that they have a child in school and are not for the mask mandate said, “Because for one it is a fact that masks are not good for anyone to wear for long periods of times; it’s harmful to constantly breathe in our own CO2; we would be slowly killing are children and staff by making them do this; and also I personally don’t believe the mask is going to stop anyone from contracting the virus.”

Others who responded in the same category cited opposition because of students with breathing diseases such as asthma; autistic students who may touch their hands to their mask constantly throughout the day; and others say the mask isn’t proven to do enough good to mandate its use — especially when looking at healthcare workers as examples.

An individual who said they have a child in the district and answered “maybe” said, “With flu season and kids getting colds this time of year the mask may help some because some children forget to cover their mouths when they cough. But the mask may not be good for children with health conditions like asthma.”

Respondents had broad concerns about implementing or not implementing the mask mandate.

“I personally feel that non-essential classes such as gym, band/music, shop, weight training classes should be suspended as well, for the students who do not need these classes as a credit for graduation. These classes present unnecessary opportunities for COVID exposure,” said one respondent who has a student in the school and believes a mandate should be in place.

A second respondent who does not have a student enrolled and is not for the mandate said, “Masks do NOT work. If they did the surge in cases wouldn’t be happening. Also, no one knows the damages of wearing a mask all day every day. There haven’t been any studies on the effects or permanent damage they may cause.”

The same respondent added, “This is all a joke and you know it but will not admit it. 99.998% survival rate. Everyone on the planet will catch this one day. What are you going to do wear a mask for the rest of your life for nothing? If the social distancing and wearing a mask worked you wouldn’t be hearing about all these new surges around the country.”

A respondent who has a child in school but is not for the mask mandate said, “I think it is difficult for kids to breathe with the mask on! If masks are required school should close.”

Others simply had questions such as, “will the children have breaks in the day, outside distance from others where they can remove the mask?”

The Maries R-2 Board of Education was expected to discuss implementing the new mask mandate option during Tuesday, Nov. 24, board meeting. A decision had not been released as of the 6 p.m. deadline Tuesday night.

Maries R-1 in Vienna had 12 responses. One person did not have a student enrolled in the district but believed a mandate should be in place, “to help protect all involved.”

Of the remaining 11 responses with students in the school district, five did not believe a mask mandate should be implemented, five said it should, and one said maybe.

Reasons varied including one respondent who said no to the mandate saying, “I don’t believe that mask will keep you from getting the virus.”

Another who thought a mask mandate should be in place said, “I work in healthcare.  It is important to do whatever we can to protect students, teachers, and all staff.  Remember you might not get sick from COVID but your parents and grandparents could die from it.”

The one respondent who has a child enrolled and said maybe a mandate should be implemented added, “because some students with breathing problems have more trouble breathing with a mask on.”