Three of the five School Board members voted against continuing the face mask mandate requested by school superintendent Keith Martin in the School Board meeting Monday, Sept. 13.
Face masks were mandated in a special School Board meeting Sept. 1 with a request to require masks until the regular meeting. Four of the five board members were present. Board member Mindy Cawthon was absent Sept. 1 due to caring for an ill family member. At the Sept. 1 meeting, board member John Dye cast the lone vote against the mandate.
Monday night, Cawthon, Dye and Jenny Wood voted against the mandate. Board members Jeff Neil and Sandy Button voted to continue the mandate.
After a presentation by school superintendent Keith Martin showing numbers of students and staff members testing positive and being quarantined and comments from people present both for and against the mandate, board members voted after making statements, including the statement that they would reevaluate the data at the October meeting.
The decision was applauded by group in attendance.
"A lot of people suggested we had made up our minds before coming into room," Wood said. "Some of the data that was presented changed. We can not come in with a personal agenda. We are to represent the school ... hard decisions have to be made. For myself, I will look at the October data and my decision may change. For parents, if children are sick, please keep them home!"
"I have the utmost respect for our board and administration and support them fully," Dye said. "We're in this difficult situation not by our own doing. I absolutely support this group 100%."
Carrying signs stating "My Child, My Choice," "We kids stand against masks," and "Please don't make kids wear masks" children and about 30 parents stood in front of the Pea Ridge School Administration building waiting for the School Board meeting during which board members heard a recommendation from Martin to continue the mask mandate begun Sept. 1. Martin had data showing that the numbers of students and staff quarantined from covid contact had dramatically reduced since the mandate.
More than 40 people were in attendance at the meeting.
"I can't tell you how important it is that you keep your children home if they're symptomatic," Martin said, after the vote. "Without having the barrier of the masks on both parties... with contact tracing ... they will be quarantined."
Cawthon also shared that one of her family members tested positive but was asymptomatic. She recommended testing household members if anyone within the household tests positive.
Beginning the meeting, Martin said he was requesting the mandate in order to "keep kids in school." He said the Centers for Disease Control guidelines about quarantine require that if a person is identified through contact tracing as being a close contact to someone who tests positive, that person must be quarantined if either of the two persons was not wearing a mask.
"I feel like it's my duty to keep those kids in school," Martin said.
