The Macon County Board of Education heard a lot of backlash about face coverings during the monthly meeting on Monday night, but in the end, their support for requiring them actually grew stronger.
Over a dozen concerned citizens and parents of Macon County students signed up to speak in the board’s public comment period, all of them opposed to requiring face coverings in schools. As in months past, they argued that whether children wear masks should be up to their discretion rather than the school system’s and that mask mandates are a violation of their rights. They also contended that masks cause children undue physical and mental strain that outweighs the risk of the virus.
“I am a mother who is concerned about my children coming home with headaches because they can’t breathe,” Crystal Jenkins said during the public comment.
Many parents were angry about interactions their children had with school staff about proper mask wearing and at least wanted to see changes in enforcement measures. Criticisms were sharp and occasionally personal, with some even suggesting that Macon County Public Health Director Kathy McGaha be fired for her continued endorsement of masking mandates. The board members heard everything from questions of their patriotism to accusations that they were chasing financial incentives tied to masking, although legal counsel John Henning Jr. refuted this.
“There is no truth to some notion that you get some more funding depending on your mask policy,” Henning said. “The federal funds that were reflected in the audit that we talked about tonight are the ESSER funding or federal funds that are handed down from the federal government on a per student basis.”
Macon County citizens are divided over what data and what sources to trust, but looking at what’s happening in other public school systems around the state shows a near consensus. As of Sept. 24, three North Carolina school districts have mask-optional policies, three more are either preparing to implement such policies or are voting on them soon, and the other 109 all require masks, per the North Carolina School Board Association. The five school districts that border Macon County Schools require masks. According to Superintendent Chris Baldwin, some of those counties started out with optional policies and had to replace them after seeing quarantines stack up at twice the rate of Macon County Schools.
“Their quarantines have come down since they went to masks required, but they still aren’t at the levels that we are today,” Baldwin said.
The board’s top priority was keeping the spread of the disease from getting any worse in schools and potentially sending them back to full-time virtual learning. Board member Melissa Evans, who voted against a face covering requirement in August, still isn’t convinced that masks are necessary, but she joined the majority on Monday night in hopes of keeping kids physically present at school.
“I still believe that we should have freedoms, but I also believe that if we don’t do this, we are going to have to send our kids home, and that’s worse,” Evans said.
Board member Hilary Wilkes moved that Macon County Schools continue to require masks, a motion which was seconded by board member Carol Arnold. That motion passed by a margin of 4-1, with board member Tommy Cabe voting against it.
Neither vaccinations nor cloth masks are 100% effective at preventing the contraction and spread of COVID-19, but major health organizations like the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization continue to push both measures as the most effective available tools for combatting the virus. With the Delta variant continuing to surge around the United States, especially in areas with low vaccination rates, citizens are encouraged to play it safe.
“To maximize protection from the Delta variant and prevent possibly spreading it to others, get vaccinated as soon as you can and wear a mask indoors in public if you are in an area of substantial or high transmission,” reads the CDC webpage on COVID-19 prevention.
The next meeting of the Macon County Board of Education is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 26 at 6 p.m. in the boardroom at the Macon County Schools Central Office.