Newton schools remove masking requirement

The Newton school board removed masking requirements in all district buildings when the sick absence rates are above 8 percent for two consecutive days. In addition, students and staff infected with COVID-19 are now asked to stay home for five calendar days and wear a face covering to school for another five days.

The board’s decision — which passed in a 6-1 vote on Jan. 24 — comes when five buildings in the Newton Community School District in the past month have exceeded the 8 percent threshold and required masks be worn by students, staff and visitors for 10 school days. That policy was passed in late September 2021.

Aurora Heights Elementary, Emerson Hough Elementary, Thomas Jefferson Elementary, Newton High School and WEST Academy have all required masks at some point during this semester. Even with the alterations made to the Return to Learn plan, masks are still required on school transportation.

Superintendent Tom Messinger knows it “seems ridiculous” to make this kind of recommendation when student sick absences are so high. But based on information collected from parents, the district estimates 50 percent or more of the absences at Newton schools are not due to COVID-19, Messinger said.

“There are other illnesses now that are plaguing our schools,” he said. “There’s influenza, strep throat, RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) and others. The medical clinic tests for a number of those different things. We have students and adults who have come out of there testing negative for everything. They’re just ill.”

Since the start of the pandemic, the district has kept track of student and staff absences and the reasons for those missing days, as well as staff fill rates. But Messinger also argued the district’s absence rates due to sickness “fluctuate up and down regularly” over the course of the semester and the entire school year.

Emerson Hough in particular still saw high absence rates due to illness after requiring masks. The elementary saw 10 percent of its students out sick on Jan. 7. The following Monday, Jan. 11., the absence rate was at 8.64 percent. Since then absence rates have ranged from 6.4 percent to as high as 13.18 percent.

Enforcing masking rules has also been challenging for the Newton school district. Buildings spent several weeks of school not requiring masks and then were asked to get back into the routine. Messinger said that causes disruptions to the school environment for staff and students, unlike the 2020-2021 school year.

“The previous year it was much easier because you required masks for the full year,” he said. “So when we’re building the routines of school, it was much easier to do that … Now we’re at the point where we’ve built routines in school and we’re wanting to change how we operate in the middle of the year.”

The school attorney confirmed the district has no additional guidelines to be responsible for, but conflicting recommendations from federal and state authorities are still putting schools in a difficult position. Districts are ultimately left in charge of determining the best way to navigate the pandemic, Messinger said.

“The most frustrating thing about this for a school district and a school board is that there is no legally correct answer, and there is no legally incorrect answer,” Messinger added. “While the guidelines from CDC and guidelines from federal people exist, so do those from state. And they don’t always agree.”

Even Messinger has struggled with the decision internally, noting he has “gone back and forth on this over the weekend” and the week before.

“In my mind, when I look at the fluctuation of it, it’s impossible for us to say if it’s COVID keeping our kids out of school or other things,” he said. “And in my mind I wonder the issue of masking. So do we believe that masks should be a part of every year during influenza season when absenteeism gets higher?”

Unsure if COVID-19 will ever go away, Messinger said the school district needs to find the best way to handle it, keep the school environment in a routine and not add on to the other struggles faced in education.

WHAT ARE THE CHANGES?

Prior to the school board’s action this week, buildings required a 10-day mask mandate when student absence rates due to illness exceeded above 8 percent for two consecutive days. The controversial decision attracted several vocal members of the public to speak out against any proposed mandates.

But now that policy has been removed from Newton’s Return to Learn plan.

If staff and students test positive for COVID-19 and are asymptomatic or their symptoms have greatly improved after five days spent at home, the district will now allow them to return to school on the sixth day if they wear a well-fitting mask for the five additional days.

However, students and staff who are immunocompromised, who have moderate or severe illness or are unable to wear a mask or choose not to wear a mask should isolate themselves for 10 days.

Messinger also noted students who are in extracurricular activities will still not be able to participate during those 10 days after testing positive for COVID-19.

BOARD MEMBERS GIVE THEIR THOUGHTS

School board member Donna Cook was the lone “no” vote and has been a vocal proponent of masks since the beginning of the pandemic, believing them to be adequate deterrents to COVID-19 exposure. Cook argued against the district’s recommendation, saying masks help mitigate risk.

“I think when we looked at this before we settled on a compromise to go with 8 percent for two consecutive days. It troubles me that’s such an inconvenience now when it could be lifesaving,” Cook said. “There’s high evidence that masks do prevent community transmission. Lots of evidence documents this.”

The longtime board member also said masks can help against other ailments. However, Cook’s fellow board member, Liz Hammerly, claimed face coverings are preventing kids like her daughter from developing their immune systems.

“My daughter’s been sick four times. Put a mask on her and she develops no immune system. So there are unintended consequences to the masking thing, and I feel like my other kids haven’t been sick but knowing her age and her experience in school she can get that immunity,” Hammerly said.

She also argued there is vaccine available now and there are things people can do to protect themselves. At this point, Hammerly said there are “consequences either way.” The board member suggested the positive cases in Jasper County are only a small fraction of the approximately 37,000 people living in the area.

“We’re two weeks beyond Round 2 of COVID. Is this ever going to end? Or do we just kind of live with it?” Hammerly said.

Cook replied, “I don’t think we give up just because we’re concerned it’s never going to end. I think that we believed that it would be a lot shorter than it has been. But I don’t think it’s going to last forever. But we don’t know.”

Robyn Friedman, president of the NCSD Board of Education, noted the action to end the masking requirements is a different situation than when the board created the policy. This time, she said, it comes as a recommendation from the district, unlike the mask requirement rule that was ultimately a board decision.

Although Friedman agreed with the mitigation efforts masks can provide, she also noted vaccine is now available for ages 5 and above.

“We did not have that capacity to protect, the choice for families to do that for their children,” she said. “We also have more access to testing. You can order free tests from your house. If you’re a positive test and you stay out of the schools, we actually stop the spread even better than people not testing.”

Or people who are not testing and coming to school anyway to keep the stats from becoming more than 8 percent, which the board worried might happen. Messinger said the most frustrating thing about the pandemic that school nurses are experiencing is the number of kids who are being sent to school sick.

“Our best way to reduce the spread of any illness is when, if our kids are sick, make sure we’re keeping them home — and staff members as well,” he said.

Josh Cantu, vice-president of the Newton school board, said the situation of inaccurate numbers was something he was concerned about from the start.

“I appreciate the recommendation,” Cantu said. “And I think having that very definitive choice for families to get a vaccination or not is there.”

School board member Ray Whipple, who also serves as a substitute teacher, said he has seen kids sent home for not wearing their masks correctly. As a result, Whipple said those students are “killing their education.” Whether it was right or wrong, the child was sent home and is not learning anything that day.

Also in favor of the district’s recommendation was school board member Mark Thayer, who argued the correct mask utilization “is probably extremely small.” The most effective masks, when worn correctly, are the N95 masks. But Thayer said those are extremely uncomfortable over long periods.

“(And) I worry about the kids who have hearing disabilities. I personally have hearing disabilities … and if that can happen to me I know a lot of other kids the same thing can happen. I’m a lip reader. If I don’t see your lips I’m not really hearing what you’re saying,” Thayer said.

For board member Travis Padget, it is all about trying to find a balance. The school district, he said, makes sure kids can get to school in time to have breakfast because there are families who are unable to properly feed their children. Other programs focus on taking care of the wellbeing of kids, too.

“I want to make sure so when we’re balancing that interest we’re also balancing the interests of making sure kids have those tools or the food or whatever they need to be able to successful, too,” he said. “So I think there’s a balance there. The public health interests, it’s an interesting debate. My rights. Your rights.”

But the school board may not be equipped to find a solution to that debate, he added. Padget said he’s OK with masking and he understands the issues with communication brought up by Thayer and the issues with enforcement brought up by Whipple. But he, too, leaned on the greater access to immunizations.

“We mask as a family. We mask wherever we go. We bring them with us. We wash them. They’re clean. That’s not an issue for our family, but neither is feeding our kids breakfast,” Padget said. “…I’m always just trying to take into account those kids that need somebody to also watch out for them.”

Padget also worried what would happen next if the board approved the district’s recommendation and numbers skyrocketed.

“I don’t know if there’s a right answer one way or the other. We have to do the best we can with the best of what’s in front of us,” Padget said.

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com