Paso Robles school district drops mask mandate despite state Public Health rule
The Paso Robles Board of Education passed a resolution Tuesday evening to allow for students to choose whether they want to wear a mask to prevent the spread of COVID-19 while indoors at school.
The resolution does not effect district employees, who are still required to wear masks at school.
Additionally, the district will not implement mandatory COVID-19 testing for asymptomatic students who are unvaccinated against the virus.
The resolution passed 5-2, with trustees Tim Gearhart and Nathan Williams dissenting.
By allowing for mask choice, the school district is in clear violation of the California Department of Public Health’s school mask mandate. The state agency is expected to give an update regarding its school indoor mask mandate on Feb. 28.
“We all got lots of emails. There was genuine fear expressed in those emails: fear by students who are afraid of themselves getting sick; afraid of bringing a nasty bug home to mom, dad, grandparents and so on,” said Trustee Chris Arend during Tuesday’s meeting. “We had one very moving email from somebody who lost a relative to COVID in the early days. This is a terrible disease, let’s not kid ourselves — it’s real and it’s terrible. I know two gentlemen who died of it back in September.”
Arend continued by saying the district needs to “respect the fear that others have.”
To do so, the district will, as it has previously done, provide N-95 or KN-95 masks to any student who asks for one.
A chief concern for Gearhart was the district’s liability should the district no longer enforce the indoor student mask mandate.
Its insurance carrier, Self-Insured Schools of California (SISC), wrote a letter to the district on Feb. 16 noting its liability coverage would be “put at risk” should it decide to deviate from the state’s guidance.
“Instances where a member district has intentionally passed a resolution that is in violation of a public health order and/or law would obligate SISC to conduct a thorough coverage review for any subsequent claims or suits submitted,” the carrier stated in its letter. “Documented willful knowing violations of state-ordered mandates in a board resolution dramatically increases the likelihood that SISC or SISC’s excess insurers would not afford coverage or cost of defense.”
That means the district could potentially be completely financially responsible for any claims brought against it should a student test positive for COVID-19 while the district is not mandating masks.
A total of 1,343 people in the Paso Robles school district have tested positive for COVID-19 since August. Of those, 1,170 were students, according to district data.
In February so far, 139 students have tested positive, while 762 students tested positive for the virus in January, according to the district.
That means about 17.6% of district students have tested positive for COVID-19 since August — 11.4% of which tested positive in January, according to district COVID-19 data and state enrollment data.
But most school board members did not appear afraid of the potential liability risk presented by foregoing the state’s mask mandate.
Instead, they were largely convinced by the emotional pleas made by parents, students and community members about the impacts face coverings may have on children.
“As we have heard here tonight, we have actual, real children under our care to whom they (masks) are causing harm, including suicidal ideation, other forms of self-harm, lowered IQ, social alienation, obstacles for the deaf and hard of hearing, asthma, epilepsy, lowered oxygen levels, acne, and many other forms of social, mental and physical health issues,” said Trustee Dorian Baker during Tuesday’s meeting. “I urge my fellow trustees to be brave, to be bold and stand for the children and the families who are begging us to help them.”
Most public comments during Tuesday’s meeting were in support of dropping the mask mandate, although a few showed support for keeping it in place.
Malia Gaviola, the student trustee on the board, said during the meeting that the Paso Robles High School student body government conducted a survey of a group of about 50 students about the mask mandate. About 42% of those students wanted the district to immediately remove the mandate, 52% wanted the district to wait until Feb. 28 when the state is expected to give schools further guidance and 6% wanted the district to continue enforcing the mask mandate regardless.
And of the emails the school board received before the Tuesday evening meeting, 39 wanted to ditch the mask mandate, 15 wanted the district to stay on course with the state’s guidance and 22 wanted the board to table the discussion until its next meeting on March 8.
The Paso Robles school district joins Roseville Joint Union High School District, which serves 12,000 students in Placer County, in making masks optional for students. Other school districts in California have indicated that they no longer enforce the mask mandate, although they have stopped short of passing a formal resolution.
