Masks to continue in CMS if board approves latest superintendent request
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board on Friday will be asked to extend mask requirements for all students and staff, according to a memo by the superintendent, a copy of which was sent to teachers and board members Thursday.
A school district official confirmed Superintendent Earnest Winston sent the memo to board members ahead of an expected discussion and vote planned for Friday morning. His recommendation follows updated federal and state guidelines that urge school districts to continue requiring masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, especially among unvaccinated people.
Winston, in the 3-page memo, cited the rise in COVID-19 Delta variant cases and the inability to vaccinate children under 12 in his recommendation that CMS implement “universal face covering requirements for all students, staff, volunteers, and visitors inside CMS facilities for the 2021-2022 school year.”
On Wednesday, local Health Director Gibbie Harris said she’d recommended to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools that mask wearing continue to help prevent outbreaks and subsequent disruptions to classrooms.
If approved by the school board, CMS would be one of the few local school districts to make masks not optional as classrooms open up next month. A CMS parent who has been advocating for mask wearing to continue was given a copy of Winston’s recommendation by a school board member Jennifer De La Jara on Thursday and she forwarded the message to The Charlotte Observer.
“Universal face covering requirements shall be reviewed at the end of each academic quarter or when local metrics and evolving guidance suggest that safety protocols, including using face coverings, should be revised,” Winston wrote.
CMS vote on mask mandate
The board is scheduled to discuss and vote on masks at 9 a.m., Friday at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center located at 600 East 4th Street. The special-called meeting is open to the public but the board is not holding a public comment hearing.
The public can tune in on CMS Board of Education Facebook, CMS Facebook and the CMS YouTube Channel.
Winston based his recommendation, according to the memo, on current data in Mecklenburg County, and recent guidelines from Mecklenburg County Public Health, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the CDC, among others.
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“Gov. Roy Cooper expressed concern about the rapid increase of new cases in the state,” Winston wrote in the memo, referencing Cooper’s press conference July 21. “On the same date, the NCDHHS’ StrongSchoolsNC Public Health Toolkit (K-12), was updated to strongly advise that schools should require face coverings indoors for all K-8 students and staff to decrease the risk of in-school COVID-19 transmission.”
De La Jara in response to the CMS parent’s email on masks said that over the last week she received hundreds of emails from parents, educators, doctors, and community members expressing their views on universal masking.
“There has been overwhelming support for the continued use of masks,” De La Jara wrote, “though I certainly recognize the concerns of others who would prefer optional masking.”
She also said: “These are not easy decisions when our community is divided on this subject,” adding that she plans to vote in support of masks being required for all.
“... Every time a student tests positive, the whole class has to quarantine. If we are able to help control the spread in the classroom, students will have fewer disruptions to learning,” she said.
Tovi Martin, who has a middle school student in CMS, also believes masks in schools are a necessity.
“A school system is inherently a place where the vaccinated and unvaccinated must mingle,” Martin said. “Children under 12 cannot be vaccinated yet. Other students may have medical conditions that either don’t allow them to be vaccinated or make their vaccination’s efficacy unclear. I firmly believe all children benefit from being in school, in-person if at all possible.
Mecklenburg County Health Public Health Director Gibbie Harris said Wednesday that she has provided a recommendation to CMS that all students and staff wear masks in schools, especially those between kindergarten and 8th-grade. County officials say they’ve seen an increase in cases among children, especially teenagers.
“There’s a number of reasons for that, especially in the (kindergarten) through 8th-grade age groups because there is not the ability to vaccinate the children, so having the mask there to reduce spreading in that setting is important,” Harris said. “One of the main things we are focusing on is having our children stay in school as much as possible.”
Local districts have run the gamut on face covering requirements but most decided, before recent CDC guidance was issued, to make masks optional.
Anson County Schools, Gaston County and Watauga County schools voted to require all students in all grades K-12 and staff to wear masks while on campus. The Caldwell County Schools Board of Education voted to make masks optional for its students. Union County also voted earlier this summer to make masks optional for the upcoming school year. In Cabarrus County, masks are optional but are mandatory for all bus riders.
“(Masks have) to be a personal family choice just as other medical decisions,” said Tracy Manieri Priest, who has three children in CMS and a host of concerns over her children wearing masks. She believes masks have not been proven effective and are unhealthy for children to wear for long periods of time. “I would never mask my children and will get them an exemption if needed.”
