More public comments were delivered to the John Glenn School Board members Tuesday night pertaining to the school’s amendment to the Reopening Plan that went from a mask recommendation to a mask requirement over a month ago.
Comments surrounded the opposition of mask wearing by students, no chances for mask breaks, constitutional rights, and the board’s responsibility to listen to parents.
Superintendent Christopher Winchell commented that the reason why the mask requirement was issued at the beginning of September was to keep students in school as the school was experiencing over 100 students out of school due to close contact tracing.
“Whatever we have to do to keep the kids in school so we don’t have to go back to virtual learning was the common comment that I received from the people that I checked in with,” stated Winchell.
There was a time when just over 250 students were identified as close contacts in one week.
Winchell also referenced Title 16 in Indiana Code where the school is following the Health Department’s guidance concerning communicable disease quarantining rules. The quarantining requirement shrunk with masks and it shrunk even further with Governor Holcomb’s Executive Order which led the Health Department to change its quarantining requirement to no quarantining for close contacts where masks are required. This way more kids can stay in in-person instruction.
While the school board did not respond to public comments during Tuesday’s meeting, a question and answer session will be held Thursday, October 7 at 9 a.m. ET at the Walkerton-Lincoln Township Public Library on Adams Street. Dr. Fox from the St. Joseph County Health Department will be on hand to answer questions as well as District 7 Representative Jake Teshka.
