The McDonald County R-1 School District Board of Education, at its meeting on Jan. 14, voted to continue the mask mandate for the second semester, subject to review as guidelines change.
In November, the board adopted a mask mandate for classrooms in the district that transition, following an announcement that the state had changed guidance for quarantining students. The board made the change in hopes of keeping more students in school.
Assistant Superintendent Joy Hardridge reported that in December, 326 students were excluded from school and 240 were quarantined in school. In January, she said, 154 students were excluded from school and 64 were quarantined in school. A total of 304 students have remained in school under the mask mandate, she said.
Board president Frank Woods said he is constantly hearing that other school districts are handling the pandemic differently.
Hardridge said there are schools in the vicinity that have hired individuals on staff who do contact tracing and who contact individuals and report everything to the health departments. She said, in looking at neighboring counties, she has found they are all following the six-feet, 15-minute rules and a mask mandate for excluding students from school.
Board member Chris Smith asked about students who have had covid-19 and who get exposed again.
Hardridge said, in that case, they will not be excluded from school for a certain amount of time.
Board member Dennis Bergen asked if anyone is checking in on the mental well-being of students who are excluded from school. He said he thought it would be a good idea.
Board vice president Josh Banta said he did not think the district could afford not to continue the mask mandate, based on the numbers presented by Hardridge.
"It's obviously keeping a lot of kids in school," Smith said.
The board asked administrators in the audience about students' response to the mask mandate. Administrators reported that a few students went to virtual school because of the mandate but did not like virtual school and returned to in-person school.
Woods said the district needs to educate students on the importance of wearing a clean mask because he knew of two cases in which a student developed a throat infection caused by wearing a mask that was not clean.
Following the discussion, the board voted to continue the mask mandate for the second semester, subject to review as guidelines change.
Mitch Bozone of Schneider Electric gave an update on the roofing, mechanical and awning projects in the district.
He said new roofs will be installed at the high school, Noel Elementary and Southwest City Elementary. The company will begin work on the roof at Southwest City over spring break. Materials will arrive next month. Mechanical updates are being planned at Noel Elementary, the high school, Anderson Elementary, and Southwest City Elementary, he said. That project will start at Anderson over spring break. Materials for new awnings at the high school have been ordered, and construction will start on Feb. 1, he said.