With COVID-19 case numbers trending in the right direction, government officials are beginning to ease local mask mandates.
On Monday, the Chatham County Board of Education approved a plan to lift the district’s mask mandate – not right away, but gradually over the next three weeks.
“Numbers have been trending in the right direction,” said Board Chairman Gary Leonard. “We believe as more people have gotten vaccinated and their boosters, as well as nearing the end of winter, we can provide our staff and students with the choice of whether they want to wear a mask or not.”
By a 3-2 vote, the school board approved a plan to lift the mask mandate “on or around March 7,” contingent on advice from state and local health officials and continued downward trends in COVID data. The board will hold a special meeting at a later date to determine the specific timeline.
Watch the school board meeting on YouTube.
“Staff and students who want to continue to mask are welcome to do so,” said Superintendent Dr. Anthony Jackson. “But we recognize others in the community want the option of removing the mask, and we believe it is now time to offer that choice. We do this with the understanding that the risk now shifts from district mitigation to individual responsibility.”
The board’s vote came after a long debate and comments from more than a dozen community members, most of them opposed to the mask mandate. Parents, teachers, and other residents spoke of mental health struggles among students, reduced socialization opportunities, and decreased learning outcomes. But others, like Chatham County public health director Michael Zelek, cited research showing that counties with mask mandates had fewer COVID outbreaks in schools and lower COVID metrics community-wide.
The difficulty of the issue may have been captured best in the public comment period, as two teachers spoke separately of a major spike in early resignations among their fellow educators. One of the teachers cited that spike as a reason to repeal the mask mandate – but the other cited it as a reason to keep the mandate in place.
The result was a sharply divided school board and a decision that came down to one member. Jane Allen Wilson spoke emotionally for several minutes about her conflicting views before deciding to take a “leap of faith” and approve the change.
“This is really a tough decision, and I just — I want for our kids to be okay, I want our teachers to be okay,” she said. “I wish we had more solidarity in our county about safety, but I also wish that kids in schools weren’t having to bear the load of the pandemic. We didn’t bring on the pandemic, but the focus is on us to protect public health, and the focus is on us to keep kids mentally healthy. Those are in conflict sometimes in this pandemic, and that is extremely hard.
“I will vote yes with the hope that we truly monitor this situation well and with prayers to those who are worried about their health and wellbeing,” Wilson concluded.
One policy shift will take effect immediately: Chatham County Schools will no longer require athletes to wear masks during sporting events. The school board approved that change unanimously.
Photo via the Chatham News + Record.
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