NEWS

Masks in class

By RORY SCHULER
Posted 8/18/21

By RORY SCHULER Police removed three Cranston men from Monday night's School Committee meeting. Tempers flared throughout the two-hour public forum, as passionate pleas from parents on both sides of the masking debate took turns making their case. In

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NEWS

Masks in class

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Police removed three Cranston men from Monday night’s School Committee meeting.

Tempers flared throughout the two-hour public forum, as passionate pleas from parents on both sides of the masking debate took turns making their case.

In the end, the School Committee did not side with those who yelled loudest. Masks will be mandatory on the first day of school, for all students, staff and visitors.

“On tonight’s agenda, the school committee is going to take up a very important and very controversial decision; a decision to mandate, or not to mandate, masks for our students when they return to school,” said School Committee Chairman Daniel R. Wall, Ward 6. “The people on stage are elected members of the school board. They are elected, among other things, to make education policy. We are not doctors; we are not scientists or epidemiologists. We don’t have the resources, the data or the expertise that members of the governor’s office or the Department of Health have. But, be it as it may, they chose not to weigh in. And that’s OK. They’ve left it for us. And we’re going to do the best we can in the interests of our students.”

Wall attempted to maintain order as more than 20 parents alternated behind the lectern in the auditorium of Cranston High School West.

Parents wearing masks spoke in favor of mask mandates. Parents without masks demanded “parental choice.”

“Speaking solely for myself … I personally have revised my own opinion on this matter,” Wall said. “And when this matter does come to a vote, I plan to be voting for mandatory masks for our students when they go back to school.”

Masked parents offered a light round of applause, which was quickly drowned out by boos from a large group of unmasked parents. Some in the audience screamed at the school committee.

“You have no FDA approval!” Yelled one man, who was later removed from the meeting. “You have no authority! You are experimenting on humans!”

Wall calmly asked the audience to respect each other’s opinions. “If we can’t maintain order, we will have the police escort you out,” Wall said. “Everyone will have the opportunity to speak.

We have this open to the public. This is not a shouting match.

If we cannot maintain order, we will adjourn, we’ll escort those people who cannot maintain order, and then we’ll continue the meeting.”

A man shouted: “Authoritarian!”

Wall responded by speaking to one of at least five uniformed Cranston Police officers in attendance.

“Officer, would you please escort that man out?” Wall asked.

“Sure!” Screamed the man. “Escort me right out. Why not? I’ll be the first one to go. This is what happens when you speak up.”

Two more men were escorted from the auditorium throughout the evening, for the same reason.

Wall read a letter from School Committee Member Sara K. Tindall-Woodman, Ward 1, who could not attend Monday’s meeting.

Tindall-Woodman called the topic “the most pressing issue of the 2021-22 school year: whether or not our community will ask all of its students and attendees to wear masks.”

“There (are) strong opinions on both sides of this debate,” Wall said, reading the letter into a microphone. “And it seems for me, on one side, there are individuals who are advocating for parental choice, the idea that parents should take charge. And on the other side, we have individuals who are advocating that everyone should be masked, so that everyone is protected from the COVID virus and all its variants.”

Everyone who spoke publicly Monday night seemed to agree on one thing: the school committee was forced to take a vote on masks because state government had not offered strict guidance.

“I don’t believe that this issue should have fallen to the school committee,” said parent Kelly Knee. “And I don’t believe that the school committee should be making public health decisions but here we are … The Delta variant is a whole new ball game, and it’s a ball game that we don’t understand the rules of yet.”

Although many state departments have issued mask mandates in state-owned buildings, the Rhode Island Department of Health and Gov. Daniel McKee have strongly recommended, but not required, masks in schools. School committees across the Ocean State have been forced to debate and vote on the issue. The Johnston School Committee, for example, voted last week to make masks optional for students.

Later in Monday’s Cranston School Committee meeting, parent John Rossi stood up to speak.

“I think it’s fair to point out that there’s no federal mask mandate,” Rossi said. “There’s no mandate from the state, from Gov. McKee or whoever our un-elected governor is right now. And I don’t really think that it’s up to the school committee to make a medical choice like this for all the children.”

Several committee members mentioned the district’s youngest students, those under 12 who have not yet been cleared to receive the COVID-19 vaccination.

“The final analysis, for me, this debate comes down to one question: Do we protect everyone in our community, or only some people? If we allow individuals to come into schools unmasked, whether or not they are vaccinated, we are risking the health of those individuals who come into contact with them on a daily basis.” Wall said, reading Tindall-Woodman’s letter. “There is still a significant portion of the community that cannot be safe without masks; those that do not even have the option of being vaccinated; those under 12 years of age.”

School officials have been following news reports of spiking COVID-19 rates in mostly southern states with low vaccination percentages. Virus data in Rhode Island has also been steadily climbing.

“Daily positive rates in Rhode Island are back up; over 400 of them on Friday, which is mostly the more infectious Delta variant,” Wall said, still reading Tindall-Woodman’s letter. “Many individuals in the parent choice camp have raised several concerns concerning face masks; that it will hurt their social, emotional well-being and that it is simply time to allow our children to take off their masks. For me, the thing that is missing from this argument is concern for the community well being. It allows only some of you to make masking a priority. You’re potentially exposing the child sitting next to your child, all day long, to a proven deadly virus. When individuals are inside for prolonged periods of time, the risk of getting the virus dramatically goes up.”

The Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) has again revised the state’s “Masking Requirements.”

Vaccinated or not

“Whether or not you're vaccinated, you're still required to wear a mask in some settings,” according to the agency’s website. “If you're not fully vaccinated, RIDOH also recommends that you continue to wear a mask indoors near anyone you don't live with and outdoors in crowded places or during activities where you’re in close contact with other people who are not fully vaccinated. Close contact means you’ve been within six feet of someone with COVID-19 for a total of 15 minutes or more in a 24-hour period.”

Children, especially students under 12 years old, in a school classroom setting, would more than qualify under the RIDOH definition of “close contact.”

“You're fully vaccinated if you’ve gotten all recommended doses of a COVID-19 vaccine authorized by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or World Health Organization (WHO) and more than 14 days have passed since the final dose,” according to RIDOH.

Parent Hilary Jones approached the lectern and spoke into the microphone.

“So I wasn’t planning on being here today … I just assumed that masks would continue to be required,” she told the crowd and the committee. “I’m shocked, honestly, that this is a conversation we’re having right now. If my 4-year-old’s been able to wear a mask successfully for a full year … It just seems logical to me that we would continue to do so until we can get this under control.”

Parent Josh Diem also appealed to the school committee.

“I’m here to ask you as a governmental body to pass a policy that requires the students, visitors, staff, anyone in a public school to wear a mask,” Diem said. “This isn’t an issue of choice, this isn’t an issue of freedom. This is an issue of public health. This is an issue of science.”

Diem said he empathized with those asking for “parental choice.”

“Nobody wants to wear masks,” he said. “I don’t want to wear masks. I have two children that go to Cranston schools. I don’t want them to wear a mask. But in addition to just keeping everybody safe and everybody healthy … there are members of our community, including people in my household, who are immunocompromised, who if they do get this virus are much more likely to get gravely ill and/or die. And as a governing body you have the responsibility to make policy decisions that keep the well-being of this entire community in mind.”

For other parents, the mask debate represented a test of liberty and freedom.

No options for children

Amanda Forte stood to speak. She has two children; one in first grade, another preschool age.

“Adults have options,” Forte said. “Why don’t children?”

Forte and several others carried “UNMASK OUR CHILDREN” signs, distributed by a group recently formed in Rhode Island, which has been calling for “parental choice,” but insists members are not “anti-mask.”

“Vulnerable adults can no longer demand that children be forced to mask,” Forte said into the microphone. “They can wear a mask or accept a readily available vaccine or choose to stay out of certain situations. But they can no longer ask children to obstruct their airways for long hours to protect adults who have options.”

Forte addressed the committee directly.

“I ask you, our district leaders; make choices that prioritize our children,” she said. “What is forced-masking keeping them safe from? Who is the mask for? If you say ‘our children,’ let the Unmask Rhode Island group be heard loud and clear. We do not want our children to wear a mask. So telling us that the mask is for them makes no sense and it means nothing to us. If a family wants to mask their child, to keep them safe, allow them to. That’s their choice. Why are we, the families who feel safe, who felt safe and who will continue to feel safe, not given the same freedom?”

Forte said her position on this issue has led to social exclusion in Cranston.

“We’re starting to feel alienated and almost unwelcome in our own community because of our stance,” Forte told the committee. “Currently we’re not welcome at the Cranston Public Library because I will not mask my healthy child — a favorite place for my boys and I. Which again raises the question. Who is the mask for? We feel safe. Why aren’t the families who feel unsafe being encouraged to participate virtually?”

Diana Kaian, also a mother of two boys, made a Constitutional argument.

“I’ve always taught my boys to stand up for their rights and what they believe in,” Kaian said. “What better way to set that example than for me to stand here in front of you all? When I look at my boys, and generally speaking all of the children this past year who were forced to wear a mask over their mouths, I knew I couldn’t stay silent any longer. Last year we home schooled due to the mask requirement. And this year my husband and I will not back down.”

Cranston, and many other Ocean State public school districts, are not offering the same synchronous at-home learning option offered across Rhode Island last year.

“My kids have the right to an education,” Kaian said. “And have the right to be surrounded by their friends. And have the right to be mask-free. Because from what I know, I live in the United States of America. And in the United States of America we have something called the Constitution. The First Amendment guarantees freedoms concerning religion, expression, assembly and the right to petition. Requiring someone to wear a mask as a condition to assemble in your place of public accommodation is an infringement of the right protected under the U.S. Constitution, the highest law of the land. No law is valid or lawful that violates the Constitution.”

Supporters holding “UNMASK” signs cheered Kaian on as she spoke.

“Let’s stop with the fear mongering,” she demanded. “Enough is enough. I want to remind you folks, school boards do not represent the government. School boards represent the children of the families. You are not here to make sure they do not catch a cold, have a runny nose or catch a virus. That is our job as parents. To protect them for how we see fit. And if we are wiling as their parents to send them to school unmasked, face free, free breathing, please let us do that.”

The school committee eventually voted on a mask policy first revealed at last week’s work session. All five board members in attendance, Wall, David A. Alden-Sears, Ward 5, Kristen E. Haroian, Ward 2, Michael A. Traficante, Citywide, and Domenic F. Fusco Jr., Ward 3, voted in favor of the policy, which initially recommended, but did not mandate masks for everyone in school buildings.

Alden-Sears then offered an amendment to the policy, calling for a district-wide mask mandate. The members voted 5-0 for the amendment, setting required masks as policy in the new school year.

Only Alden-Sears wore a mask on stage.

Reluctant vote

Traficante said he was reluctantly voting with the rest of the committee to be a “team player.” He said state government “passed the buck” to school committees.

Haroian said she survived COVID last year, but inadvertently passed the virus on to someone she loved. She said she learned a valuable lesson.

“I am more concerned with keeping people healthy than I am with making people happy,” she told the crowd.

Only five members were present Monday night. School Committee member Vincent Turchetta, Ward 4, resigned from the board last week.

The board unanimously approved amended mask policy, mandating face-coverings for all students, staff and school building visitors.

After the meeting, Forte stood outside the school with likeminded parents, exchanging contact information. She said she wasn’t shocked by the committee’s decision, but she had not decided whether she’ll send her son to school wearing a mask.

“I’m not surprised, but we still wanted to show our support,” Forte said. “It’s really hard. My son wants to go to school. I don’t know what’s next.”

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