SILOAM SPRINGS -- Siloam Springs Schools Superintendent Jody Wiggins will recommend a resolution to the school board for students and staff in the school district to wear masks at the board's regularly scheduled meeting on Thursday, Wiggins announced in a letter posted on the district's website.
Wiggins' cited the recent injunction issued by Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox that temporarily blocks the state of Arkansas from enforcing Act 1002 passed by Arkansas lawmakers, which went into effect July 28, prohibiting state and local governments, including school boards, from requiring people to wear masks.
A spike in covid-19 across the state led Gov. Asa Hutchinson to call legislators in for a special session last week, asking them to provide an exception to the law that would grant each school board the authority to require students to wear masks under certain circumstances. The legislature ended the special session with no changes to the law.
The first day of school in Siloam Springs is set for Monday.
"Our goal is to educate students, and this is best accomplished if students and teachers are onsite interacting with each other," Wiggins said in the letter.
Covid quarantines led to a large number of absences last school year, Wiggins said.
He said there are two ways to reduce the number of quarantines that were not available last year.
First, staff or students who are fully vaccinated do not have to quarantine, the letter states. Second, staff or students do not have to quarantine as a close contact if both the covid-positive person and close contact were wearing a mask, the letter states.
"With the second guideline in mind, and in an effort to maximize onsite attendance by both staff and students, I will be recommending a resolution requiring masks for all staff and students to the School Board at our regularly scheduled meeting this week," Wiggins said. "I believe this is in the best interest of providing a safe and quality education to the students of SSSD at this time."