LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – The Jefferson County Board of Education has given Superintendent Marty Pollio authority to decide when masks will be required in Kentucky’s largest school district.
The board voted 4-3 on a motion Tuesday from board member James Craig, who represents District 3, to give Pollio discretion to change masking policies at JCPS based on local COVID-19 metrics laid out in federal and state public health guidance until June 30.
Board members Craig, Sarah Cole McIntosh, Linda Duncan and Joe Marshall voted to give Pollio authority to alter the district's masking policies while Chairwoman Diane Porter, Vice Chairman Corrie Shull and board member Chris Kolb voted against the change.
Pollio said after the vote that masks will remain mandatory at JCPS on Wednesday, though schools and families will get details of an "adjusted plan" later that day.
He believes the district will soon transition to an optional masking policy, though a starting date has not been set.
"I want to be able to first of all give parents opportunities to make plans and adjustments for those that want to do that with their children," Pollio said. "I want to make sure that everyone in all of our schools have clear guidance on what to do, what not to do."
The vote comes after updated guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Kentucky Department for Public Health, which indicate schools can drop indoor masking requirements except in targeted uses in areas with medium and low COVID-19 transmission. Entities should consider universal masking in congregate areas in locales with medium coronavirus transmission, according to the guidance.
Jefferson County was in the medium category of the CDC's new COVID-19 metrics, which take into account new infections and hospitalizations, as of Friday. Jefferson County's COVID-19 incidence rate was 15.7 new daily coronavirus infections per 100,000 residents based on a seven-day rolling average on Monday, putting it in the "orange" or substantial category for transmission.
"When the public health guidance says easing restrictions is appropriate, I think that we should consider that public health guidance for a variety of different reasons, one of which is that it helps the board maintain legitimacy in the way that it makes its decisions and will strengthen this board should a new variant emerge or should numbers change down the road," Craig said.
Kolb, who represents District 2, urged caution in lifting the district's mask mandate and suggested that the board could face litigation from the American Civil Liberties Union, which has taken states like Virginia and South Carolina to court for barring school districts from enacting masking policies.
"We are a majority-minority school district," Kolb said. "We have over 10,000 kids with disabilities. We have over 6,000 homeless kids. We have thousands of kids who live with grandparents.
"In other words, not having a mask mandate puts the majority of our students at significantly greater risk. Not having the mask mandate will have the most damaging effects on our most vulnerable students."
The board had previously rejected a recommendation from Pollio to cut mandatory quarantine and isolation times and eliminate contact tracing at its Jan. 18 meeting. Craig’s motion explicitly gave Pollio authority over masking and no other COVID-19 mitigation protocols at JCPS.
Brent McKim, president of the Jefferson County Teachers Association, said opinions on mandatory masking vary among his members.
"I think there are some of our members who are very worried for health reasons ... and we've heard from a lot of members who are eager to be able to have the option to not wear the mask, so based on the feedback that we've heard, it's a very mixed bag among teachers," McKim said.
Tuesday's vote drew cheers from some in the audience, some of whom were among dozens who protested the district's universal masking policy on the steps of the VanHoose Education Center just before the meeting began.
The board's vote also came the same day Kentucky's House of Representatives advanced a measure that would allow public school families to opt their children out of masking, vaccination and testing policies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. House Bill 51 moved to the Senate on a 56-35 vote earlier Tuesday.
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