Rock Hill school board scrutinizes mask policy a month before 2020-21 school year
The Rock Hill School District’s return to school plan was approved last month, but recent guidance from the South Carolina education department has rehashed a contentious issue during the coronavirus pandemic: What should the mask-wearing protocol be inside the school building?
At a meeting Monday night, the Rock Hill Board of Trustees unanimously passed the first reading of a new facial covering policy. Among other functions, the policy defines what the acceptable types of masks are and enumerates times when students are allowed to take their masks off during the school day.
The policy will be voted on and implemented after a final reading later this month.
Despite the unanimous vote, there was extensive debate and a few recommended changes to the facial covering proposal less than a month before the district’s first day of school on Sept. 8.
Here’s what you need to know.
When can Rock Hill students take off their masks?
The temporary policy proposed on Monday defines a face covering/mask as a “piece of fabric, cloth or other material that covers the wearer’s nose, mouth and chin simultaneously and is secured to the wearer’s face by elastic, ties or other means,” a packet from the work session says. Unlike in a previous version of this policy, face shields are not acceptable.
The policy also states that students would have to wear face coverings while on district property and on district transportation, with a few exceptions. Times during the day when students don’t have to wear a mask include:
▪ Mealtimes
▪ Recess
▪ Class times when students are sitting at their desk and socially distanced six feet apart
Requests for exceptions under this policy for health conditions or religious exemption will be considered by the superintendent, the policy states.
Brent Faulkenberry, a trustee, aired concerns about allowing students to take their masks off inside classrooms. He said the schedule already has mask-wearing breaks worked into the school day, and allowing students to take off their masks inside a classroom could delay Rock Hill schools from returning to five-day-a-week in-person instruction.
“When we look at the (kindergarten) through fifth grade students, they’re in very old schools for the most part with a few exceptions, and they’re in very small classrooms that have a reasonable amount of air in them, and they’re circulating that air and those germs around each other the whole time,” Faulkenberry said.
He then said the only benefit to allowing students to take off their masks is for comfort, adding: “I get it, none of us want to wear a mask. But I just think that if we’re trying to get to the five-day (in-person instruction), the only way to get that extra, theoretically, 10% of the kids into that classroom is for them to be wearing masks.”
Trustee Robin Owens agreed with Faulkenberry and suggested revising the language in the mask details so it says that mask breaks could be “provided on a limited basis at the discretion of the teacher.”
“I think that kind of conveys the caution that we want to express in allowing the students to take their masks off, while still allowing the teacher to have some flexibility,” Owens said.
Superintendent Bill Cook also weighed in on the debate about when students should be allowed to take off their masks during the day. He said that while teachers are “going to have to make decisions,” he also said he wants to avoid putting teachers in decision-making situations where district guidance would be helpful.
The proposed facial covering policy had traces of the school’s mask-wearing policy that was published in its original reopening plan. However, the new policy better aligns with the S.C. Department of Education’s face covering guidelines, which were published July 31, after the Rock Hill School District’s reopening plan was approved by the state.
Other facial covering guidelines
Other details around the facial covering policy were discussed Monday.
Board chairperson Helena Miller pointed out that the city of Rock Hill is under a mask mandate that could last as long as through the beginning of September. She said that she wanted to clarify that the school board’s policies are in compliance with the mask ordinance, given that most of the Rock Hill schools are within the city’s limits.
“Before we have a second read, I would like the board to get an actual legal opinion, or have that in writing, because we cannot pass a policy that goes against state and local ordinances,” Miller said.
The board also discussed providing clear face coverings for some teachers and staff, particularly for those who teach a language class, or for those who work with kids who are deaf or who are hard of hearing.
Keith Wilks, the Rock Hill School District’s executive director of student services, said that many questions surrounding the temporary facial covering policy — like how masks fit in with existing dress codes — is addressed by the district’s code of conduct.
“We’re not trying to create any problems where there aren’t problems,” he said.
Other notes from Rock Hill schools August meeting
Business beyond mask-wearing was tended to Monday night.
▪ The board introduced the administrators who’d take up new roles in the 2020-21 year: Tennille Wallace, Executive Director of Technology Services; Gina B. Jenkins, Director of Human Resources; Bianca Chivers-White, Principal at Old Pointe Elementary School; Jamie Benfield Ledsinger, Principal at Saluda Trail Middle School; Derek McQuinston, Elementary Virtual Academy Coordinator; Brigette McSheehan, Interim Assistant Principal at Rock Hill High School; Lia McKay, Assistant Principal at Northside Elementary School of the Arts; Swanetta Hall, Assistant Principal at Belleview Elementary School; and Sara Sconyers, Assistant Principal at Old Pointe Elementary School.
▪ The board passed first read updates on its Title IX policy for students and staff.
▪ The board discussed the proposed student attendance policy. The issued policy, as written on the packet, states that teachers will record attendance on a daily basis, and that remote learning students who “do not turn in assignments and participate in virtual learning activities as set forth by the deadline established by classroom procedures” will be counted as absent.
▪ The board also introduced potential goals for the 2020-21 school year, which will be codified at a later date before being approved by the board in September. The three working goals, per the packet provided at the meeting, involve (1) providing a safe and secure environment for students and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic, (2) developing reasonable metrics for discerning student achievement and (3) “creating a highly desirable work culture” to stymie the district’s recent “excessively high” rate of teacher turnover.
This story was originally published August 11, 2020 at 1:59 PM.
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