No mask, vaccine mandates planned for schools

Although the Hot Springs County School Board was able to assure parents, during the Sept. 16 board meeting, that the board has no plans for mask or vaccine mandates stemming from the school district, there were still plenty of parents in attendance who stepped up to express their opinions on the matter.

Brayden Harvey came armed with “Wyoming statutes and constitutional clauses,” citing state statute 142-206 as saying, “The liberty of a parent to the care, custody and control of a child is a fundamental right that resides first in the parent.”

Harvey quoted Wyoming Constitution Article 1, Section 38, as saying, “Each competent adult has the right to make his or her own healthcare decisions,” and “the parent, guardian or legal representative of any other natural person shall have the right to make healthcare decisions for that person,” without “undue governmental infringement.”

Harvey reasoned from these and other quoted statutes and clauses that children “cannot be forced to wear a mask (or) get a vaccine, unless you (i.e. the school district) have parental consent.”

Amanda Roberts stepped up, noting that she has two students in the district. Roberts warned that mask and vaccine mandates, as well as distance learning, can undermine students’ trust in, and respect for, authority figures, as she quoted anonymous students who told her they feel such restrictions are setting them up for failure academically, given the workloads they receive, compared to the relative paucity of assistance that teachers are able to offer under distance learning.

According to Roberts, some students see the COVID restrictions as stress-inducing and hypocritically enforced, and have felt their drive to succeed in school eroded by the environment that’s emerged in the wake of such rules.

Ty Saylor, who’d watched the school board’s Sept. 9 meeting online, expressed his frustrations with what he considered the one-sided nature of its commentary, given that Hot Springs County Public Health Officer Dr. Vernon Miller “very clearly has a strong opinion, pro-masks and pro-vaccines,” while “no one else from the opposition (was) here to talk to you guys about everything that was going on.”

Saylor voiced his frustration with school shutdowns, which he sees as “letting COVID run our lives,” as well as “a get-out-of-school-free card to stay home, if you have any of these symptoms,” which he pointed out impacts parents, who might have to take days off from work to stay at home with their kids.

Saylor said COVID “is here, and it’s not going to go away, so we have to learn how to live with it,” especially when he sees the response to the pandemic as threatening to lower students’ test scores and “facial recognition” abilities.“How are they supposed to learn anything if they can’t see their teachers’ faces?” Saylor asked.

One self-identified “taxpayer” argued that, if education is primarily going to be conducted online, he’d like to see a portion of the property taxes that he’s paid returned, if it’s not covering school facilities, and “administration can be centralized to the state.”

Board Trustee Will Farrell told the public, “We have no intention of putting out a mask mandate tonight, or any night. It’s not been a discussion. I don’t think it’s going to be a discussion.”

Board Chair Jennifer Axtell clarified that the board has devoted previous meetings to gathering information, to decide whether and how to reopen the schools, and while the board was advised by certain parties to include a mask mandate, it ultimately decided against mask or vaccine mandates.

Axtell’s comments were immediately followed by the first parent to speak in favor of mask mandates that evening, as Angel Anderson suggested that others who shared her views might feel intimidated about voicing their opinions.

“The school district now has taken no measures whatsoever to eliminate the transmission of a deadly virus,” Anderson said. “Last fall, (students) were required to wear masks. Their temperatures were taken at the door. There were plastic barriers between desks. There were different groups going to lunch. And I don’t understand why that can’t be resumed for the fall.”

Anderson expressed her support for a vaccine clinic that had previously been suggested for the high school grades, and pointed out that her daughter had open heart surgery over the summer, “and the biggest risk she took this year was going to school.”

Anderson added, “I don’t understand why science is being taught if you guys don’t believe in the science behind the pandemic.”

Axtell later elaborated that the state health regulations require schools to shut down when they reach a 30% absentee rate, whether it’s due to COVID or not.“We’re not stopping anyone from wearing masks,” Axtell said. “We will do better about social distancing. It was brought to our attention that we haven’t been doing that really great.”

Superintendent Dustin Hunt added, “None of us want to close our schools. That’s a last resort. There’s two reasons we would; 30% absenteeism or greater for students, or not enough staff to successfully implement instruction.”

Hunt noted that absenteeism has declined to 6% district-wide, and expressed optimism that any future closures would be intermittent at most, since “we know that’s a hardship on our community, and it’s not a decision that’s taken lightly.”

Axtell pointed out that all the board members are themselves parents of students, looking to do what’s best for all the district’s students.