The Siloam Springs School Board voted 3-2 against having a mask mandate for the beginning of the school year to protect students and staff from the coronavirus during its regular board meeting Thursday.
Board members Grant Loyd, Audra Farrell and Travis Jackson voted against the mandate, while Brian Lamb and Connie Matchell voted for the mandate.
Superintendent Jody Wiggins proposed a mask mandate for students in order for the school system to get kids into class and keep them in class, he said. Wiggins said last year there were 1,703 students and staff who had to quarantine due to the coronavirus.
“My job as the leader of this school system, the person in charge of educating all of the kids in this community is to make sure that we have the best situation for learning possible,” Wiggins said.
Wiggins said the individual breakdown for infected persons last year was 260 students and 133 staff.
Audience comments
Approximately 30 people attended the school board meeting. A total of 10 people were allowed to speak at the meeting for three minutes at the meeting. Five slots were reserved for those who were against the mandate and five slots for those who supported the mandate.
Due to a lack of people signing up for all of the slots there were four extra slots available for anyone who wanted to speak, said Assistant Superintendent Shane Patrick.
Seven people spoke against the mandate while three spoke in favor of it.
Chris Horton said politicizing and talking about medical decisions at a school board meeting was absurd. Horton also said he feels like he is watching elected leaders play “Simon Says” with the Center for Disease Control (CDC) every week.
He added that the CDC, Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) and the World Health Organization (WHO) cannot make up their mind or agree about how to deal with the virus and this back-and-forth is causing the division that exists in the nation.
“We were told last year if we would mask and quarantine this would resolve itself,” Horton said. “It didn’t help one thing. So why on earth are we pretending that it will help now?”
Cindy Stinnett, a math teacher for Siloam Springs High School, spoke in favor of the mandate.
“A mask mandate will help keep kids in school where they can learn,” Stinnett said. “If all students and staff are wearing a mask then no one will need to quarantine unless they exhibit symptoms.”
The math teacher said while she understands people’s concerns about individual rights, she reminded the board they have committed to the district’s mission and values, two of which were trust and security.
If the board did not reinstate the mask mandate, at least on a temporary basis, then the board is not fulfilling its duty to the almost 5,000 students and staff in the district, Stinnett said.
Rising cases
During his presentation, Wiggins gave the numbers for Arkansas statewide coronavirus cases as of Aug. 11 for 2020 and 2021. In 2020, there were 383 new positive cases and 719 over a seven-day average for Aug. 11.
The numbers for Aug. 11, 2021, were 2,940 new positive cases. and 2,339 over a seven-day average.
When asked about where the numbers came from, Wiggins said in a follow-up email on Friday that he initially got those numbers from the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement (ACHI), but said he could not find those numbers again.
When Wiggins researched the amount of cases for Aug. 11 for 2020 and 2021 a second time, he said the numbers came from the New York Times.
The superintendent then brought up the current conditions in Marion, located in east Arkansas. The Marion School District began school on July 26 with a mask-optional policy and in a three-week time frame 1,378 students and 31 staff who tested positive and had to quarantine, Wiggins said.
“My concern is that this is a district very similar to us in size and through 12 days has 1,285 kids they put out of school for at least a week,” Wiggins said. “Those 1,285 kids going home for at least a week could be eliminated by everyone wearing a mask.”
Wiggins said the Marion School District has 4,000 students while Siloam Springs has approximately 4,200 students this year.
He also presented ADH guidance and data from the ACHI concerning the number of school districts with mask mandates and those without. There are 31 school districts who have mask mandates and 12 school districts who do not have mask mandates, according to the data from the ADH.
Board vote
Following Wiggins’ presentation the five board members spoke about their positions on the subject. Lamb and Matchell both said they had gone back and forth on their decision. Finally the board voted 3-2 against the mandate and a large number of the audience gave the board a round of applause.
Before voting, the board members each spoke about the decision they faced. Loyd said Wiggins was doing his job and even had a daughter in the school and is not against masks in all situations. Loyd also said he cannot judge whose fear is greater.
Loyd doesn’t feel like he could ban masks or require masks and that it ultimately falls to the parents whether or not to make their kids wear masks. He said a lot of people in his district said they wanted the choice to fall on each parent.
Matchell said as an educator she has done extensive research on different studies both for and against masks. She said she believes people can find research on whatever they want it to say.
Matchell said she looked at 60+ emails but also read the comments of at least 40 people on Facebook and said that she noticed the positions were almost split evenly.
This issue is also personal for Matchell, whose grandchildren will be attending school in Siloam Springs this year.