SLO County school district rescinds ‘Let Them Breathe’ resolution opposing face masks

After debates over a resolution about the use of face masks at Cayucos Elementary School District prompted a teacher-librarian to resign, the district’s board of trustrees on Wednesday unanimously voted to rescind the “Let Them Breathe” resolution.

The board had approved the non-binding resolution just a month earlier.

During a special Aug. 4 Zoom meeting, the Cayucos district board accepted the “Let them Breathe” resolution submitted by people opposed to face-covering mandates for students.

While the resolution in support of local control and parent choice “questioned several health department recommendations,” district Superintendent Scott Smith wrote earlier via email, “it did not change district policy regarding our COVID-19 safety measures.”

“Our district will continue to follow CDPH (California Department of Health) and local health department guidelines and recommendations,” he wrote, which require students and staff members to wear masks indoors.

A petition calling for the rescinding of the “Let Them Breathe” resolution was signed by 117 parents and other community members of Cayucos, which had a population of 2,505 in 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The petition was also signed by the Cayucos Teachers Association.

More than a dozen people spoke about the issue during Wednesday’s school board meeting, which was held virtually over Zoom.

The speakers, who were mostly respectful, seemed evenly split between those in favor of rescinding the resolution and those who wanted it to stay in place.

One audience member apparently was making faces and holding up signs during comments with which he disagreed, and Cayucos resident Amy Alvarez called out his behavior.

Saying that masks didn’t seem to be helping to protect kids, Alvarez said, “We can all agree to disagree.”

Some commenters referenced the resignation of Jake Rideout, who served as Cayucos Elementary School librarian for nine years and taught science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics (STEAM) classes.

In her resignation letter, Rideout wrote that the “Let Them Breathe” resolution was “a politically motivated effort to deny or misinterpret statistical evidence related to COVID-19, and should not have been given a platform, much less a special board meeting. The fact that three board members voted in favor of the resolution was the direct cause of my resignation.”

If freedom is “the right to do the right thing,” Rideout wrote, then “we never do it at the expense of anyone else’s safety. Personal freedom does not give someone the right to endanger others.”

A Cayucos resident called Rideout’s letter “chilling” and said “we were devastated” by her decision.

“You know how important she was,” he told Cayucos school trustees during Wednesday’s board meeting. “This is the actual impact your decision … placed on our school. This is now your legacy in Cayucos. You chose to drive away our beloved librarian.”

Craig Owens of Cayucos said he knew of a teacher giving her class “mask breaks” indoors.

Erika Torres, one of the petition organizers, said five students and one teacher have tested positive for the novel coronavirus since school started.

However, the canceling resolution passed Wednesday noted that Cayucos Elementary School has had in-person learning since March, and “fully open since then with no epidemiological evidence of COVID-19 transmission occurring on campus.”

Speakers who supported the “Let Them Breathe” resolution stressed their right to make their own choices about masking.

Emerald McLeod, a nurse and nurse practitioner said she was sad that the debate over masking “has divided our community and friendships.”

McLeod said that she doesn’t believe masks are filtering out the virus.

She supports those who decide that masks are the best solution for their families, she said, but added that “some parents want to move forward for children’s health in a different way.”

During Wednesday’s meeting, trustees said they hadn’t originally interpreted the “Let Them Breathe” resolution as being a political statement but more of an issue of local control versus state and San Luis Obispo County masking mandates.

“When this was passed, we had no intention of violating any mandates” and “never made any statements that we’d go against that,” trustee Steve Geil said before Wednesday’s vote. “The kids wear masks indoors. The school is being run exactly the way it’s required to be run.”

He added that “I’m really sorry that our community has been torn apart by this,” he added. “Cayucos is still a special place.”

Trustee Susan Brownell said hostility over the issue had resulted in “demeaning, false accusations threatening us. There is absolutely no place for that.”

She reminded people who had sent those communications that the letters would “be archived forever.”

Brownell said that the August vote to pass the “Let Them Breathe” resolution had been rushed.

“I know families who have not entered the school because of the mask mandate,” she said. “I’m super glad we’re having this discussion.”