School mask future?
Henderson, Horn sound off
Knox County Board of Education members debated its current mask policy for nearly three hours last week, then spent an additional two hours hearing from more than 20 parents predominantly opposed to continued masking next school year during the Board’s monthly scheduled work session Wednesday, April 7.
Spurring the commentary was a mask policy “sunset” clause introduced by Betsy Henderson, BOE District 6 representative (covering Hardin Valley and Karns communities) pertaining to Policy C-240, which was passed last August as an emergency policy.
“The resolution that I am offering would sunset the mask policy for next year while remaining vigilant if the circumstances change by August,” Henderson said in an e-mail prior to the meeting. “The amendment I’m suggesting would have the Board review the metrics every month to ensure we are getting back to normal while protecting the health at our schools.
“As we near the end of the pandemic, we need to become more flexible with our policies,” she added. “Our staff has been eligible to receive the vaccine since Feb. 22. … By August, anyone over the age of 16 will have had the opportunity to get the vaccine.
“I’m fully vaccinated and I encourage everyone to make an appointment to do the same.”
Current COVID-19 cases in Knox public schools “are at the lowest levels since September, and as the most vulnerable get vaccinated we should return to normal operations,” Henderson said. “Our kids desperately need to return to normal.”
Knox County Superintendent Bob Thomas said his plan is to consult with the Knox County Health Department, the Centers for Disease Control, the state Department of Health and the Governor’s office for guidance on continuing the masking policy.
“My recommendation would be to continue to follow the guidance from the CDC and Health Department,” he said.
Currently, both entities are continuing to recommend masks and social distancing to stop the spread of the disease.
“We can get rid of them tomorrow if that’s what the Board wants to do,” Thomas said. “... The most impactful activity would be to be vaccinated as soon as” eligibility requirements are met.
“If everyone is vaccinated, we might not need to have conversations like this one anymore,” he added.“Get a vaccination and maybe we could go back to normal.”
Through the first week in April, according to KCS officials, roughly 22 percent of staff had received at least the first COVID-19 vaccine.
“I thought vaccines were the end game, but the ball keeps moving,” Henderson later said. “Why are we picking and choosing what CDC recommendations to follow?”
Board member Patti Bounds, District 7, noted disparities she personally witnessed recently “at ballparks in four different parts of the county. “I saw one mask (overall). No kids, parents or siblings or grandparents” were wearing masks.
Board members, including Chair Susan Horn, District 5 (Farragut and portions of West Knoxville), said feedback received from hundreds of parents “were in both camps” regarding the mask issue.
“A lot of parents I heard from kept their kids out because they would be forced to wear masks,” Horn said. “Then others sent them because of the policy.”
Dr. Joseph Childs, chief medical officer for East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, was called on to speak during the meeting and seemed to support discontinuing the mask policy.
“I don’t think you had a choice from a mask standpoint,” regarding last year’s policy, Childs said. “… You made the choice you had to make; but we are in a different world now … my perception was we were not as much worrying about protecting kids. I thought the masks were to protect teachers and staff. So now we have the vaccine, universally available to everybody — (I’m) disappointed in numbers — but it is there, and offers 100 percent prevention,” he added. “That is the way out of this. I can’t tell you what to do, just try to inform you the protection of teachers and staff issue is solvable and is not a mask issue — it’s a vaccination issue.”
Childs went on to say he has seen more mental health struggles among children during the pandemic, but said he saw it more as “isolation and stress” issues rather than a mask issue.
Dr. Martha Buchanan, executive director for KCHD, advocated not only continuing to mask — as the CDC recommends — but also stated she continues to do so in public, despite the fact she has been fully vaccinated and had the COVID-19 virus midway through the pandemic.
“Masks do work, absolutely,” Buchanan said. “… I’m fully vaccinated, but when go out I will continue to wear my mask because I don’t know if you have someone at home who is elderly, and I might make you sick, and you might make them sick.
“We’ve got to reach a better level of vaccinations.”
“I’m confused,” Bounds said. “You’ve had COVID, you’ve been vaccinated, but you wear a mask so you won’t give it to anyone else?”
“There’s a slight possibility I could contract COVID again,” Buchanan said. “I could transmit the virus into the air and make someone else sick. We need more data on that.”
“What I have heard from parents, is their concern that masks are not being used properly,” Horn said.
After further discussion, Horn said, “The reason I supported (the mask policy last year) was because I supported the re-opening plan. ... Would I have voted for it if I thought it was going to be here forever, or even into next year? Absolutely not.”
The Board was set to consider policy changes during its regular meeting Wednesday, April 14 (after press deadline).
