The South Central School Board Tuesday night reluctantly agreed to require staff and students to wear masks beginning today. Superintendent Kerry Herdes says the state left them little choice.
“We were under the impression that we had 60 days until funding may have been frozen which is roughly about 4 million dollars, it’s over half our budget we function on. The latest meeting in schools in Fayette and Marion Counties that they could start in as early as a week. The timeline has really been escalated.”
Herdes says from what he’s hearing from other schools they may have just a week left before the state could freeze funding and pull recognition. He notes the district only had until Friday to get off probation and be able to participate in post-season baseball and softball.
Herdes says with the mask requirement, the rules will help the district keep down the number of students who are close contacts.
“All the timelines are removing stuff for our kids, funding for our schools, what helps us retain teachers, aides and staff is being threatened. Now, not 60 days from now.”
One parent was critical of the board for putting themselves in the position to get put on probation and not following CDC safety guidelines. Susie Robb also told the board students who were instructed by their parents to wear masks were getting made fun of by those not wearing the mask.
Several others say they understood the board’s need to comply with the state but pushed the school board to sue the Governor over the issue. Herdes said he is working with a group of schools who will try to get local control back over COVID-19 issues.
The vote in favor of requiring the masks was unanimous, with Danny Heistand casting his vote in protest.
