The Rutherford County School Board voted 5 to 2 last Thursday to implement a 30-day mask requirement for all students, staff and visitors on school campus grounds and the district’s central office to begin Monday, Sept. 13.
New Vice-Chair Shelia Bratton made the motion to approve the temporary requirement that will remain in effect until Thursday, Oct. 14. All RCS parents will have the ability to formally opt their children out of the board’s policy per Gov. Bill Lee’s executive order.
This decision comes out just two days after the board waded through comments from 36 students, parents and healthcare professionals who stand on both sides of the debate when it comes to requiring students to wear masks on campus. The board also heard from a few visitors on Thursday night, who wanted to continue the mask conversation before a vote took place.
An opt-out form has been made available on the district’s website. As of 8:30 a.m. Monday morning, only 4,554 of the district’s 49,039 students have selected to use this option, according to an email from RCS Communications Director James Evans.
Bratton specified that the policy has the potential to automatically terminate before the 30-day period is complete should the county’s COVID-19 positivity rate reaches 10% or lower for three consecutive weeks.
The policy may be automatically reinstated if the county’s positive rate rises to 15% or higher.
Bratton’s third stipulation said that any masked students who come into contact with someone who has tested positive for the virus will not have to quarantine unless the individual begins to experience symptoms.
In her motion, Bratton said she had considered the requests for specific metrics made by new Chairwoman Tiffany Johnson on Tuesday night as well as the 10% positivity rate as a county benchmark suggested by Health and Homebound Services Supervisor Sarah Winters.
The approved policy will be reviewed again at the board’s next meeting on Oct. 14, the date the original policy is set to expire.
Board member Claire Maxwell seconded Bratton’s motion, stating that the temporary policy in hopes that it will allow students to continuing learning in the classroom.
“It’s going to keep us from sending our kids home, and if they’re not feeling sick, and they’re not showing nay symptoms, and they’ve got a mask on, they can stay at school, and that’s the most important thing on both side,” said Maxwell.
During the school week leading up to Labor Day, 90 staff members and 1,022 students tested positive with 556 staff members required to quarantine. The total number of students who were required to quarantine for at least one day amounts to 10,197.
Board members Lisa Moore, who joined the meeting virtually, and Tammy Sharp were the only members to vote “no.”
The results of the vote caught the attention of Rutherford Students First, a parents group focused on maintaining parents choice in relation to mask use in schools. Co-Founder Chris Littleton reached out to the board, Director Bill Spurlock and RCS Staff Attorney Sara Page on Friday, Sept. 10 to notify them that the approved policy had not been included within the night’s agenda.
“RSF is not going away, and we are tasked with holding the Board accountable to parents with students in RCS. You may pass all kinds of policies we don’t like, but like any government entity, you are still required to follow a defined process,” wrote Littleton, who’s group is requesting more “transparency” between the board and parents.
In his email, he included an excerpt from the Rutherford Board of Education’s policy, which notes that any policy change should be submitted by the Policy Advisory Committee or Spurlock through the board within the agenda.
He also filed a public records request for documentation that the policy procedures were followed as written. Page replied with a records denial form on the grounds that there are no such records found.
Evans clarified to the Murfreesboro Post that there was no need for an additional vote on the policy.
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