Atascadero school board votes on mandating masks in classrooms amid parent protest
Students at Atascadero Unified School District schools will return to in-person learning wearing face masks while indoors, following a school board vote on Tuesday.
The North County school district starts classes on Wednesday — becoming the first public school district in San Luis Obispo County to open its doors for the 2021-2022 instructional year.
Like many other school boards in the state, the Atascadero Unified board debated the California Department of Public Health’s guidelines regarding indoor face coverings at schools.
However, because the San Luis Obispo County Public Health Department has supported the state on this matter, the board voted 6-1, with trustee Mary Kay Mills dissenting, to approve a school reopening COVID-19 safety plan that incorporates the mask mandate.
Overall, Atascadero Unified board members said they were grateful to parents who came to express their anger and disappointment at the board for implementing the state mask mandate. But trustees also expressed how they felt stuck between a rock and a hard place.
“Whatever choice we have to make so that our kids are able to get to go to school, then, I’m sorry, that’s the choice I’m going to make,” trustee Terri Switzer during Tuesday morning’s meeting. “I hear you, but, I mean, we are really doing the stinking best we can by the situations that have been thrown at us, and they’ve been pretty sh---y.”
Atascadero Unified Superintendent Tom Butler said the school district does not set these mask mandates, and it’s doing what it knows how to do best.
“How can we accomplish the most, educationally, for our students, under the guidance?” Butler asked the board, saying that opening fully in person with the caveat of following the state’s mask guidance is the best they can do now.
The school’s safety plan also follows county Public Health Department guidance to test certain high-contact athletes regularly for COVID-19, and to follow quarantine procedures should a student show symptoms of COVID-19 after coming to school.
Parents demand school board drop mask mandate
At Tuesday’s meeting, the Atascadero school board unanimously approved a resolution that advocates for school districts in California to work solely with their local public health departments on COVID-19 safety measures, rather than have mandates pushed down from the state level to encompass all school districts.
The board’s move to pass that resolution, while still requiring students and teachers to wear face masks while indoors, did not satisfy many parents who spoke at Tuesday’s board meeting.
Parents who spoke during public comment demanded that the Atascadero school district allow mask choice, citing claims that the masks hurt student mental health and can have other health impacts.
“If you decide to segregate those kids (from those who do wear masks), it will be considered ... retaliation, and, well, use your imagination of what will happen next,” said Jake Loden, a deputy sheriff with the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office. “Don’t forget, Rosa Parks was told to sit in the back of the bus. She simply said ‘No.’ So ladies and gentlemen, that’s how it’s done. Not telling our kids to sit in the back of the bus. We will not comply.”
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Other parents who spoke at the board meeting said they will withdraw their kids from the district and find other ways of schooling should the district impose the mask mandate.
Staci Emmack, a member of the San Luis Obispo County chapter of the nationwide organization Moms For Liberty, said she was confused why the Atascadero school district was following state masking requirements when a district official said the district’s safety plan was not tied to any funding coming in from the state or federal government.
“We assumed, based on what we’re hearing at the other board meetings, that there’s millions of funding coming in from the governor for this,” Emmack said during Tuesday’s board meeting. “So we don’t know why else you’re following these rules.”
Written comments sent to the board prior to the meeting mainly advocated for the district to implement the mask mandate.
A few parents showed up at Tuesday’s meeting to speak in support of requiring masks in classrooms, although they were outnumbered by those who spoke against the mask mandate.
SLO County Public Health supports masks in schools
San Luis Obispo County Public Health Officer Dr. Penny Borenstein has supported the state’s mask mandate.
In an interview with The Tribune, Borenstein said the masks protect unvaccinated kids in school and prevent bullying based on whether a kid is wearing a mask or not.
“It is true that, in classrooms, transmission of disease is low,” she said. “But that has been able to be the case because of these protective measures.”
Over the 2020-21 school year, Atascadero Unified reported about 62 COVID-19 cases involving students and 23 involving district employees. Countywide, 514 students and 260 school employees reportedly tested positive for the COVID-19 in the same time frame, according to data compiled by The Tribune.
In its guidance, the California Department of Public Health says masking is the best and simplest way to effectively mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in schools.
“SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is transmitted primarily by aerosols (airborne transmission), and less frequently by droplets,” the CDPH guidance says. “Physical distancing is generally used to reduce only droplet transmission, whereas masks are one of the most effective measures for source control of both aerosols and droplets. Therefore, masks best promote both safety and in-person learning by reducing the need for physical distancing.”
The state’s mask mandate applies to all private, charter and public schools.
This story was originally published August 10, 2021 at 2:27 PM.
