Macon County Schools will not require masks in school buildings effective immediately after a unanimous decision from the Board of Education on Monday night.
The decision follows months of protests from parents who believe mask requirements are harmful to children and a violation of rights, but board officials cited local COVID-19 data as the main reason for the change in course. Through last Friday, the county’s positivity rate had fallen to 7.05%, down from 11.85% just a week earlier and from 51% in August when the board first instituted the mask mandate. Total cases have also sharply declined in recent weeks, particularly among staff members and students old enough to be vaccinated, and immunity in the schools is on the rise.
“Currently, we have 654 students who are fully vaccinated and 734 who have had at least one dose of the vaccine,” Superintendent Chris Baldwin said. “If you go back to school year 2021, when we had 224 students who tested positive, and then look at the number of students that we’ve had test positive this year, which is 384 as of today, that’s a total of 608 students… that means that we have 1,342 students who we know have some level of immunity today.”
Macon County Public Health director Kathy McGaha confirmed that the COVID situation in Macon County has been improving over the last several weeks. She continued to emphasize that masking and vaccinations are important tools to keep cases from spiking again and noted that the holiday season will likely see some kind of resurgence. However, things are stable enough for now that she could understand the board taking on a certain level of risk.
“We’re pleased to see that the numbers are coming down, not just in the school system, but throughout the community, and there’s no reason to think that’s going to change over the next few weeks,” McGaha said. “It should continue on that trajectory.”
This isn’t the absolute end of the mask mandate discussion for Macon County Schools. The board will reevaluate the need for a mandate at their next monthly meeting, or possibly sooner if cases and quarantines jump unexpectedly. Masking on school busses will also still be required because of federal public transportation policy, and quarantine criteria are handed down from the state. Legal counsel John Henning Jr. says that the board is only reversing the requirement as far as is their prerogative.
“You do not have control over what the state public health regime around our directions from our state to try to contain the spread of the virus are,” Henning said. “Those are contained in the Strong Schools NC Toolkit.”
The board members expressed their appreciation for all the school system families who have been patient and cooperative with masking policy. Going forward, they urge parents to monitor their children’s’ health, keep them home when they feel sick and generally practice mindful-ness about the continued risks of the virus. Without the extra safety net of masks, keeping kids healthy and in school in the long-term is going to take a group effort.
“There’s a responsibility that comes with [making masks optional],” board member Hillary Wilkes said. “We are in a pandemic. It is not over.”
The Macon County Board of Education will meet again on Monday, Nov. 15 at 6 p.m. in the boardroom at the Macon County Schools central office.