Hoover school board votes to require masks 1st 30 days of school

The Hoover school board Friday afternoon voted 3-1 in favor of requiring all students, staff and visitors to wear masks inside school facilities for the first 30 days of school — from Aug. 10 through Sept. 20 — regardless of people’s vaccination status.

Board members Craig Kelley, Kermit Kendrick and Amy Mudano voted in favor of the universal mask mandate, while board President Amy Tosney voted against it. Board member Alan Paquette was not present but voiced strong opposition to the mask mandate at a work session Thursday night.

New Hoover schools Superintendent Dee Fowler at first recommended the board approve a resolution to “strongly recommend” people wear facial coverings in schools but not require it. However, the board voted 3-1 against Fowler’s first recommendation, so he offered the 30-day mask mandate as a secondary option, which the board approved.

Kelley, Kendrick and Mudano on Thursday night said they were concerned with the recent spike in COVID-19 cases and believed universal masking of people in schools would help prevent the spread of the disease. However, Craig said he did not want to leave a mask mandate in place indefinitely and thus wanted the 30-day sunset provision.

There was much discussion about the merits of masking Thursday night but no similar discussion at Friday afternoon’s meeting. The superintendent presented a brief summary of the overall reopening plan, made his recommendations and the board voted.

The reopening plan approved by the board stated that at the end of the 30-day mask mandate, the board then would “strongly recommend facial coverings when indoors with groups, regardless of an individual’s vaccination status, for the remainder of the school year.

Also, “in the absence of a mandate, we will ensure everyone’s choices regarding facial coverings are respected and valued,” the policy states.

There were about 70 people in the audience at the meeting in the auditorium at Spain Park High School, and many of them expressed opposition to the mask mandate.“Where are your masks at?” one woman shouted from the audience after the board voted in favor of the mask mandate. Kendrick was the only board member wearing a mask.

Keri Frazier, a mom with two children in Hoover City Schools, said her daughter has dyslexia and needs to see her teacher’s mouth move and pronounce words. Also, students need to be social and make friends, she said. “When their face is covered, they can’t make friends.”

She also doesn’t believe students wearing facial coverings at school is going to stop the spread of COVID-19, she said. Furthermore, “a kid has a greater chance of getting struck by lightning than they do from dying by COVID,” she said.

She hopes board members at least will stick by the 30-day sunset provision, but she’s not confident they will, she said.

Kendrick said he trusts the advice given by doctors at UAB Hospital for people to wear masks as a preventative measure, and Mudano said she sees it as a good mitigation strategy that will help keep as many kids in school as possible.

REOPENING PLAN

Another change in the reopening plan for Hoover City Schools is that virtual school will be offered for all age groups, not just students in middle and high school as originally planned for this school year.

The district’s technology and curriculum leaders scrambled to find online curriculum for elementary school students, so now parents of elementary students also will have that option for their children if they are concerned about sending their children to school, Fowler said.

Elementary school parents who want the virtual school option will need to select it by Monday, Aug. 9, and their student will remain in virtual school the entire year because the virtual school curriculum is different, Chief Technology Officer Brian Phillips said. Parents can register at hoovercityschools.net.

School officials are asking parents to closely monitor their children for illness, including COVID-19 symptoms, and to not send their children to school if they are sick.

When the school district learns that a student has tested positive for COVID-19 or is showing symptoms of being infected, that student will be required to leave school for 10 days, according to the reopening plan.

When a child tests positive, the school will notify parents of other students in that child’s class or bus about the positive test and if their child had been in close contact with the infected child so parents can be on the lookout for symptoms in their own child, Fowler said.

One difference from last year is that students who were in close contact with another student who tested positive no longer will be required to be isolated and stay out of school, Fowler said. It will be up to their parents whether they come to school or not, he said.

The Alabama Department of Public Health has determined that a federal law requiring masks to be worn on public transportation also applies to school buses, so anyone riding on a Hoover school bus will be required to wear a mask while on the bus, Fowler said.

There will be assigned seating on buses and in classrooms, according to the reopening plan. There will not be partitions in classrooms unless a parent asks for one for their child, he said.

Schools will provide free lunches and breakfasts for all students again this year, and Fowler said he has directed principals to make sure their cafeterias are not crowded, even if they have to stretch out meal times longer than usual to allow for more social distancing.

Field trips will be allowed, but Fowler said does not plan to allow out-of-state field trips and would reserve the right to cancel any field trips as conditions merit. Athletic teams will follow guidelines established by the Alabama High School Athletic Association, and clubs and after-school programs will resume as normal, Fowler said.