PRAIRIE GROVE -- After about a 25-minute discussion, Prairie Grove School Board on Jan. 18 decided to keep the district's current policy that wearing masks at school is optional for students and staff.
Reba Holmes, superintendent of schools, gave out covid-19 case and quarantine numbers, as provided to her by school nurse Danielle Randolph.
Last week, Prairie Grove had 94 covid cases among students with another 391 students in quarantine, about 23% of the staff, Holmes said. Another 30 staff members had covid with 16 more in quarantine, or 20% of the staff.
She said Randolph told her other cases were coming in, so the positive cases and quarantines would change as information is processed.
Randolph's report to Holmes said nursing staff and teachers are finding it an impossible task to keep track of students who are supposed to be wearing masks, based on Centers for Disease Control guidelines.
The latest CDC guidelines say a student or school employee who tests positive for covid-19 must isolate for five days but is able to return to school after those five days if they do not have any symptoms and if they wear a mask for five days.
In an email, Randolph told Holmes, "A universal mask mandate would be appreciated."
Randolph said students are returning to school who should be wearing masks and are not wearing masks.
"We instruct the parents that it's required but there are not enough people to police this in any of the schools," Randolph told Holmes.
Board members, though, said they did not believe it was the nurses' or teachers' jobs to "police" masks.
Board member J.C. Dobbs said everyone should know the "rules" about wearing masks when they return to school and it should not be up to teachers or nurses to enforce those rules.
Board President Casie Ruland asked board members what they wanted to do about masks on campus.
She noted that the Prairie Grove School District is color coded "purple," according to the latest data from Arkansas Center for Health Improvement. Purple means the population of the district has 100-199 new known infections for a 14-day period per 10,000 people.
Previously, Prairie Grove School District has had a much lower infection rate but like the rest of the state, infection rates have gone up over the last three to four weeks.
Board member Matt Hargis, who has been against a mask mandate since the first of the year, said he has not changed his mind.
"Kids have the ability to wear a mask. Teachers have the ability to wear a mask," Hargis said. "I personally don't think we require anybody to wear a mask."
Hargis said he would not vote for mandatory masks and said he did not think the community wanted that either.
Board member Whitney Bryant pointed out the covid-19 vaccine is now available to all students, whereas it was not available to younger students when school started in August. A student or staff member who is vaccinated does not have to quarantine if they are exposed to the virus, unless they develop symptoms.
"I think we should just continue to take one day at a time, just like we're doing now," Bryant said.
"Like J.C. said a couple of months ago, there is no right answer," board member Bart Orr said. "No matter how you look at it, there is no right answer."
Dobbs added, "We're going to make someone mad regardless of what we do."
The school moved to virtual instruction for two days on Jan. 13-14, using AMI days (alternative method of instruction) for those off-site days. These were taken because of increasing covid cases and a shortage of teachers and other staff. With the weekend and the Martin Luther King Jr., holiday, that gave the district five days away from campus.
Holmes said she is asking all schools and departments to let her know by 2 p.m. each day if they will have enough staff to cover school the next day.
She said there are plans in place to "double up" if necessary so the district can have on-site instruction. If the district needs to return to virtual school days because of covid cases and quarantines, Holmes said the district would use AMI days.
Hargis recommended the district increase its communication to parents about the state and CDC guidelines.
"I think we could do a better job of getting the information out," Hargis said, noting parents need to understand the covid policies are coming from the state and CDC, not from the school.
Ruland brought the discussion to a close, saying, "So what I'm hearing, the consensus of the room, great discussion everyone, is just to keep everything as it is for now. And if people want to wear a mask they are more than welcome to do so and are encouraged to do so if they feel they need to."