The Hutchinson School Board Monday evening waded into waters mired by national political discourse.
In front of a crowd that packed the council chambers at City Center and spilled into the lobby, and many more online, members voted 3-2 to approve a COVID-19 preparedness plan that did not mandate masks for students and staff.
The plan presented to the School Board by Superintendent Daron VanderHeiden calls for a complete in-person learning model for students in kindergarten through 12th grade. He said the plan did not require masks because both the Minnesota Department of Health and Minnesota Department of Education advise residents wear masks, but stop short of a mandate.
“In our (proposed) preparedness plan I am consistent with that,” he claimed.
The plan does, however, require face coverings on buses, in accordance with a federal requirement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Students and staff with confirmed COVID-19 cases must be isolated or quarantined from school programs for an allotment of time recommended by the Department of Health. Those with symptoms common to COVID-19 should isolate or quarantine until they have a negative test or have no symptoms, the plan states.
In a departure from this past school year, the plan does not require those with close contact to a diagnosed or symptomatic person to be isolated. Instead, families will be notified.
The school is unable to guarantee social distancing with all students in the building, VanderHeiden said, but every effort will be made to distance students as much as possible. During lunch, for instance, seating options will be expanded.
The entire plan approved by the School Board will be available on the front page of the District 423 website: isd423.org.
Prior to the School Board’s discussion on the subject, members of the public in attendance were invited to speak. Those in attendance expressed myriad concerns.
“It’s a personal choice,” one resident said, imploring board members to let he and his wife make decisions for their children.
Speakers said the issue of wearing masks was one of individual freedom. The board heard worries about distance learning options for students who would be quarantined, and about students living in fear. It also heard from residents who urged others to wear masks, and credited the practice with mitigating the spread of COVID-19 this past year both in the general population, and in schools.
One resident warned that not mandating masks would result in more respiratory infections — COVID-19 or otherwise — that would isolate students from their best learning experience. Board members were asked to weigh the health of the entire community over individual desires.
Board Member Michael Massmann asked VanderHeiden if he was confident the COVID-19 plan as presented was what was best for students.
“We’ve done a lot of work on this,” VanderHeiden said. “COVID is out there. Kids are going to get COVID whether we have masks on in school or not.”
He said one factor that was weighed in the plan was the knowledge students are not wearing masks at home or in other public places, exposing them regardless of what the school does. He said masks hinder learning and the development of social dynamics.
“That was more damaging than COVID,” he said, but noted the health concerns of the pandemic should not be downplayed.
VanderHeiden said he was not aware of any school district that touched District 423 that planned to mandate masks. He said after meeting with six other superintendents, it appeared they were consistent.
Ultimately, he concluded: “Right now, absolutely, this is what I would recommend.”
Massmann, who supported the plan as written, and Board Member Sara Pollmann, who pushed for a mask requirement, went back and forth regarding the efficacy of masks. One subject center to the discussion was whether masks had prevented any major outbreaks in Hutchinson schools this past year, or whether it had been avoided regardless. Students did not wear masks during summer learning, Massmann noted, and it did not bring about a pandemic event. VanderHeiden said there were fewer students in the building during summer learning.
Board Chair JoEllen Kimball encouraged board members to consider the safety of those who may be at risk, and asked what would happen if masks were mandated by the CDC. VanderHeiden said the School Board would then have to meet and decide whether to change the plan.
Board Member Keith Kamrath lamented how politicized the discussion of COVID-19 had become.
“It’s really become difficult to tell what the science is,” he said, adding that he didn’t trust studies regarding masks that had come out since the pandemic began.
Kamrath said if the COVID-19 pandemic worsens again, the state will step in and things will change. In the meantime, he worries for the state of learning.
“The damage we have done to education in the past year has been significant,” he said.
Board Member Tiffany Barnard, who remained quiet for much of the discussion, told the School Board people had “showed up at her home” and threatened her in front of her children, and did so without knowing how she would vote. She worried national politics was damaging the community she loves.
“It is ruining our ability to love each other,” she said.
Emphasizing the need to provide a consistent, safe learning environment, she said past quarantine and distance learning practices were hugely disruptive.
“Today I am supporting giving the community the choice,” she said.
Barnard’s words drew applause from the crowd.
“Please, I’m not looking for applause,” she said, imploring those present cheering for her to listen to others who disagreed with them. “Lets move forward the best we can.”
Board members Kamrath, Massmann and Barnard voted in favor of the plan. Board members Kimball and Pollmann voted against the plan. Board Member Erin Knudtson, a doctor, was not present. In a letter read during the meeting she said she was unable to attend due to having contracted COVID-19, but that she supported wearing masks in school.
