WHITE HALL -- Following recommendations from state health and education officials, the White Hall School District will require that all students and staff members wear face coverings on campus for 60 days starting Monday, the first day of class.
District board members unanimously approved a request from Superintendent Doug Dorris to issue the mandate, which came four days after a Pulaski County circuit judge issued an injunction against Arkansas Act 1002, which prevented school districts and other local entities from mandating the use of face masks. The law went into effect July 28.
Dorris told board members the district rule was necessary "for the safety of the kids and our teachers," given the recent rise in covid-19 cases across Arkansas. But in introducing the measure -- which he asked the board to revisit during their October regular meeting -- Dorris said he fought against that decision since Friday, when the injunction was issued.
"We had in our mind that we were all set that we were going to strongly recommend to our kids that, 'Hey, you're going to wear masks,'" Dorris said. "That's what we had worked on all the time through. That was the plan back since April. You have that all in your mind, and all of a sudden you come back and you know, 'This school's going to be doing this. You're going to be doing that,' and then you start wondering, 'What is the best thing I need to do?'
"And you keep seeing the death rates. You keep seeing kids going into hospitals, and then when I looked up here and all of a sudden -- we're not even doing tracing -- people start calling in and saying, 'We've got all these kids with covid right now.' I thought, 'Man, here we go.'"
Upon voting for the measure, board President Raymond Jones said he "totally" agreed with the call.
Jones, an eye doctor, said one of his friends who is a director at Arkansas Children's Hospital told him a few weeks ago the facility "is taking in kids left and right" and hasn't taken in a child that has been vaccinated. Children under 12 are ineligible to receive a covid-19 shot, which has been the crux of the ongoing debate between school officials and state legislators about the ability to require masks.
"I just see what's happening out there, and I know I wouldn't want my child sitting in a room with sick kids and parents who often have the tendency to send a child to school when they're sick anyway, and this is the best way to protect our kids," Jones said. "It really doesn't matter to me whether the rest of the state doesn't do it, or they try to challenge this from the legislature or whatever. I think this is the best thing for our kids, and we want our kids to stay in school and not have to send 150 home on quarantine three days after we had the two kids in class."
Dorris said he was advised by Arkansas Department of Health officials that its recommendation of masks applied only to indoor use and large gatherings, when asked how his requirement would impact athletic events and other extracurriculars.
Jones and Dorris said they do not fear any challenge from parents or legislators about requiring masks.
"I think it's the best thing to do for our kids," Jones repeated. "I think our parents feel that way, too. They want their kids safe."
Dorris did not detail any penalties for failure to wear masks.
Dorris said he had come up with a "perfect plan" to encourage face masks Tuesday morning after meeting with state health and education officials, and that was to implement a measure Gov. Asa Hutchinson introduced in the spring that allowed a student who properly wore a face covering but was exposed to covid-19 to avoid quarantining.
At 2:59 p.m., Dorris said, he received a "massive" email from the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement concerning health standards and guidelines and forwarded it to board members. At 3:34 p.m., Dorris added, he received word that Arkansas Department of Education Secretary Johnny Key recommended masks be worn in public schools during the governor's news conference earlier in the day.
"The biggest thing we're finding out from the health department is that they're afraid to death of delta ... and now they have lambda," Dorris said, referring to the variants of coronavirus. "Delta is going after these young kids more than ever. So, again, I know this is not going to be a great decision for everybody, but I strongly feel like we've got to take this in concern for these kids. "We've got about 3,000 kids enrolled in White Hall when school starts."
Since mid-July, Dorris told the board, 11 teachers, 14 students and another staff member in the WHSD have quarantined due to covid-19.
"I hate doing it, but I think for the safety of our kids and our teachers, I'm going to recommend to the board -- and I'll add one more thing -- the senior high had a meeting today, and they were in groups. They were asked what the teachers felt like. They felt like if they didn't have masks on, they would not be able to do the group work they could with masks."
Dorris' decision came one day after the Watson Chapel School District adopted a resolution allowing Superintendent Andrew Curry to "set the expectation" that masks be worn among students and employees. Curry said his expectation won't be enforced unless data regarding covid-19 cases in Jefferson County leads him to do otherwise.