After hearing feedback from parents at Thursday's meeting, Siloam Springs School Board members voted three to two to keep the district's mask policy in place for the rest of the year and asked Superintendent Jody Wiggins to investigate other options for high school graduation.
Three parents appeared before the school board in person during the public comment session. Two asked that mask requirements be discontinued and one asked for graduation plans to be changed. In addition, nine parents emailed their comments to the school board, including four with concerns about graduation, three with concerns about mask regulations and two with concerns about both issues.
Since Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced on March 30 the statewide mask mandate would be lifted, the school district's policy, which was adopted before the the mask mandate was issued, has remained in place.
Parents Shelly Curry and Tonya Teague, along with four other parents who emailed their comments on the issue, asked board members to discontinue the mask policy.
Curry, who both appeared in person and sent her comments by email, said her child's asthma has been exacerbated by wearing masks and said he has had to drastically increase his medication. She said in some cases the mask requirements are making healthy people sick. Masks should be optional and people who chose to wear masks should be respected, Curry said.
Tonya Teague said her child is deaf and that wearing masks is especially hard on hearing impaired people who rely on reading lips.
"While we respect the opinions of those who wish to wear masks, with the survival rate of 99 percent and the school district cases being at zero since before spring break we are asking the masks be made optional," Teague said. "Kids are exhausted and their health is affected."
Wiggins said administrators polled staff and the district's ready for learning committee about the mask policy. Ready for Learning Committee members, which includes community members, parents and staff members, were 60.5 percent in favor of keeping mask policies and 39.5 percent against. In contrast, 58.5 percent of school employees who responded to the survey were against continuing the mask requirement and 41.5 percent were in favor of the policy.
The low number of probable close contacts who later tested positive for the virus show the school's policies have resulted in very little person-to-person transmission in the school system, Wiggins said. Throughout the school year, 132 staff members, or 21.8 percent, tested positive for covid-19, Wiggins said, noting the the percentage of positive staff members was much higher than the general population. A total of 253 students, 0r 6.1 percent, tested positive for the virus, he said.
Eight percent of students and staff, or 1,647, were quarantined as possible close contacts of positive cases, Wiggins said. Of those, only 45, or 2.7 percent, went on to test positive covid-19. Many of the probable close contacts who went on to test positive were actually family members of other positive cases, he said.
"Of that 1,647 (people who were quarantined), very very few of them actually got the virus, so to me that tells me something we've been doing this year has worked, has been successful to some degree," Wiggins said. "I think that masks have been successful so my stance would be to recommend we continue with our mask policy for the last seven weeks and then we reasses in the summer, we reasses at the beginning of next year."
At least 50 percent of the district's faculty and staff are vaccinated for covid-19, according to Assistant Superintendent Shane Patrick. Since spring break, there have been zero covid cases in the district but some people have notified the school they are quarantining based on household exposure, he said.
While national covid-19 numbers are down, other states are preparing for another surge, Wiggins said.
Wiggins said to his knowledge, out of the 16 school districts in Northwest Arkansas, only Gentry and Pea Ridge have done away with their mask policies.
"I'm sure that as with a lot of things we've talked about in the last year," he said. "There are differing opinions and when we make a decision we are going to upset someone no matter which decision we make and so when we are in that situation, I think I have to follow my heart and side on the side of caution for the 4,200 kids and 600 employees in our district."
Board President Brian Lamb noted that mask wearing is a passionate issue and there are reasons on both sides. He said he preferred to err on the side of caution for the seven weeks remaining in the school year and continue requiring masks with the hope it will no longer be necessary in the fall.
Lamb also brought up concerns that if a surge does happen this spring, requiring students to start wearing masks again after discontinuing the policy would be confusing and chaotic for kids.
Board member Grant Loyd said he was able to meet with people in his zone during Easter egg hunts. He said he planned to vote to represent not only his own beliefs but the people he is representing.
"I feel like it should be optional," he said.
Board member Travis Jackson said there are extreme cases on both sides of the mask wearing issue which makes the decision even more difficult.
"I would love to see the teachers finish on a positive note, a smiling note," he said.
Board member Connie Matchell said she was torn by the decision, but that students have been wearing masks all year and she would like to see them finish on a healthy note.
Matchell said she teaches in a mask at the university level and realizes the difficulties it creates.
"I realize what has been said here about how difficult it is to hear and I understand the little ones will have difficulty learning to read because they can't see the teacher's mouth," she said.
As a former middle school principal, Matchell said she could see students whose parents wanted them to wear masks at school being ridiculed by other kids.
"I would love to rip it off and and get rid of it, absolutely, but I'm not sure we are ready for that," Matchell said.
Board member Audra Farrell said she did some homework and businesses in the community are continuing to require masks. She said she would love to get rid of the requirement immediately, but when only seven weeks left she suggested getting through the rest of the year and reexamining the mask policy next year.
Graduation
Parent Jim Evans, along with five parents who emailed their comments about the issue, asked school board members to consider other plans for graduation that would allow students to graduate in one ceremony, with a recessional and processional, and with six tickets for each student. Evans appeared in person and emailed his comments.
Plans for high school graduation were announced at the March school board meeting. The event is scheduled to take place on Saturday, May 15 at Barnhill Arena on the University of Arkansas campus. It is divided into two back-to-back ceremonies with roughly 190 students in each event to facilitate social distancing. The university is also requiring students not to have a processional or recessional and to leave the arena as soon as they walk across the stage.
Instead, Evans proposed hosting graduation in Panther Stadium on May 22, since state soccer tournaments will be taking place in the stadium on May 15. He suggested that processionals and recessionals be conducted using the same methods as senior night.
If the school district followed the capacity set for the stadium during football season, it would limit the number of people attending, but if the district follows state requirements of 66 percent capacity, there would be 2,640 seats available, Evans said. With a graduating class of 272 students, only 1,632 seats would be needed if each student received six tickets, he said.
In comparison, John Brown University is hosting a commencement ceremony at Panther Stadium in May for a class of 346 students, with four tickets for each student filling 1,384 seats, Evans said. Additionally, the soccer tournament will bring 32 teams together and on the busiest day, 640 students will be in and out of the stadium, not counting fans, he said.
A second option would be to ask the University of Arkansas to use the deposit for Barnhill Arena on Reynolds Razorback Stadium, Evans said. It is also possible the university would hold the deposit for the 2022 school year, he said.
"These kids and families have asked for a ceremony where they can be together," Evans said. "There is no reason to deny that request."
In addition to the feedback presented at the meeting, seniors Remington Wallis, Isabelle Pennick and a third student who wished to remain anonymous wrote a letter and circulated a petition requesting the ceremony be changed so the class can graduate together. The seniors gathered nearly 250 signatures of fellow students, parents, community members and even a handful of teachers, they said.
Wallis and Pennick said most of the people in their class have been going to school together since kindergarten and it is important they graduate together. They noted that with the current format of the ceremony, people with last names toward the end of the alphabet will graduate with a nearly empty audience.
After hearing and reading the public feedback, school board members asked Wiggins to investigate other possibilities, including hosting the event at Panther Stadium on the evening of May 15 or the following weekend on May 22.
Wiggins said school administrators will research all the options and asked school board members to come back one day this week for a special meeting to review the possibilities.