Masks will be required for HCPS pre-K through 6th-grade students, staff & visitors

Based on an increase in positive COVID cases and resulting quarantines over the past week in Henderson County schools, the Board of Education Monday voted 4-3 to require masks beginning Nov. 29 for pre-kindergarten through sixth-grade students.

The mandate – made during an emergency meeting of the board – will also apply to staff and visitors during instructional hours through the end of December. Masks will become optional again Jan. 1.

Vice Chair Amy Lynn Holt and board members Jay Egolf and Robert Bridges voted against the mandate.

The board Nov. 8 voted to end the mandate making masks optional for all students, staff and visitors beginning Nov. 15.

More: HCPS mask mandate ends Nov. 15 for all students, staff & visitors

The Nov. 22 vote was based on Superintendent John Bryant's recommendation to require masks for pre-k through sixth-graders. He made the recommendation because of an increase in cases and quarantines in elementary and middle schools.

During the first week of masks being optional, there were 52 positive COVID cases and 116 quarantines at the elementary and middle schools compared to 22 cases and 25 quarantines in all schools the week of Nov. 8, according to the data Bryant received from local public health officials. There were 15 cases and 18 quarantines in all schools the week of Nov. 1.

Bryant told the board the week of Nov. 8 was the first week cases and quarantines went up since school started; cases had been going down.

"We had more elementary school students test positive in the week's worth of data – almost twice as many – as our entire school system had seen in that previous week," Bryant said.

Between Nov. 15 and 19, there were 40 positives and 56 resulting quarantines in elementary schools, 12 positives and 60 quarantines in middle schools, and 9 positives and 24 quarantines in high schools, Bryant said.

"Parents and families of children who are 12 years old and up have had ample opportunity to choose vaccine if they believe it to be best or not and to have an opportunity to choose whether or not a face covering is appropriate for their school environment," Bryant said.

Board members agreed the meeting was called over concerns about quarantine procedures, but board attorney Chris Campbell said that can't be decided locally. Under state law, state health officials develop rules on how to respond to pandemics and infectious diseases.

State law provides control measures and preventative measures in regard to the pandemic, Campbell said. Masks are considered preventative and can be decided on locally whereas isolation, exclusion and quarantine are control measures that are legally required, he said.

"We are required to adhere to this guidance," Bryant said. "Whether we agree with it or not is not the issue."

The board decided they will write a letter, detailing their disagreement with those guidelines, which will be sent to state officials. Holt called the quarantine procedures "ridiculous," "absurd" and "unacceptable." She said she's spoken to WNC legislators and they agree with her.

"Shame on the CDC, shame on the state health department for not making people who have had vaccinations quarantine," Holt said.

"I know and everybody here knows that if you've had a vaccination you can catch COVID and you can spread COVID. If we want to do what's right for our community – that's what I keep hearing ... everybody should be made to go home and quarantine."

Board Chair Blair Craven said he disagrees with quarantines of staff and students who don't have COVID symptoms. Board member Kathy Revis said the quarantine rules make no sense to her, and the board along with the medical community needs to question the rules.

"We've been living in this pandemic for almost two years – nothing has changed, especially in a week, and the board knew that," Egolf said. "... Yet one week later we call an emergency board meeting. We look silly."

Revis disagreed. "This is such a fluid number within our community," she said. "I think we're going to have to react as the numbers fluctuate."

Public comment wasn't allowed at the emergency meeting. The board will vote on the mandate again at its Dec. 13 meeting under state Senate Bill 654, which requires a monthly vote.

Lurah Lowery is the education and city government watchdog reporter for the Hendersonville Times-News, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at llowery@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @lurahlowery and Facebook.com/lurahjournalist.

This article originally appeared on Hendersonville Times-News: Masks will be required for HCPS preK-6 grade students, staff & visitors