{"id":33108,"date":"2020-07-23T15:27:07","date_gmt":"2020-07-23T20:27:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=33108"},"modified":"2020-09-08T10:25:14","modified_gmt":"2020-09-08T15:25:14","slug":"oklahoma-state-board-of-education-punts-on-mask-mandate-for-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2020\/07\/23\/oklahoma-state-board-of-education-punts-on-mask-mandate-for-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"Oklahoma State Board of Education punts on mask mandate for schools"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Oklahoma State Department of Education<\/p>\n

A color-coded recommendation chart for schools to follow as they deal with the coronavirus in their communities.<\/p>\n<\/div>

Following hours of contentious debate, Oklahoma\u2019s State Board of Education voted down a proposal that would\u2019ve mandated masks in many schools.<\/span><\/p>

The members voted 4-3 to reject <\/span>a thorough plan for reopening <\/span><\/a>– developed by State Department of Education and Health staff – and turn it into simply a recommendation.<\/span><\/p>

Cloth face coverings are recommended for children by both the Centers for Disease Control and the American Academy of Pediatrics to fight the spread of COVID-19. And now, the Oklahoma State Board of Education as well.<\/p>

The majority on the board said they preferred to leave decisions like masking, moving to virtual education and other matters up to local districts.<\/span><\/p>

\u201cAre we going to allow our democracy to be at work?\u201d Board member Estela Hernandez said \u201cIt really comes down to the heart of it\u2019s about bottom-up, not top-down.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Screen grab \/ Oklahoma State Department of Education<\/p>\n

State Superintendent for Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister speaks at a July 2020 State Board of Education meeting.<\/p>\n<\/div>

Superintendent for Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister made an impassioned plea for the plan. And when it failed she expressed her disappointment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

“Ordinarily we should leave most decisions up to a local school district,” Hofmeister said. “But not during a public health emergency.”<\/span><\/p>

Carlisha Williams-Bradley, of Tulsa, also panned the move.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cSo I actually don\u2019t see our inactivity of a decision to mandate something today as an elevation of our care or concern for the safety of students,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>

Board members who ultimately voted against mandating the plan , said it was too heavy handed. Jennifer Monies, of Oklahoma City, pointed out that she was also involved as a board member at a local school – John Rex Charter School – and that boards like hers can be \u201cmuch more nimble.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

The massive guidance plan advises school districts to have a mask mandate for staff and students when there are more than 1.43 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people in the county where the district is located. The mandate would\u2019ve gone into effect in all but six rural Northwestern Oklahoma counties.<\/span><\/p>

It also would\u2019ve thrown high school sports into question, because it discouraged any contact sports activities in counties that had more than 14.39 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people.<\/span><\/p>

In a press briefing after the meeting, Hofmeister said that many superintendents and other district leaders around the state have said they supported the plan as it was written as a requirement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

She said she fears that they won\u2019t have the political backing in their communities to pass something like a mask mandate, despite believing it is the best way to keep students safe.<\/span><\/p>

“They were counting on the state to protect their students,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

And she says the repercussions from Thursday\u2019s vote\u00a0 could be severe if current trends continue with no action from the state.<\/span><\/p>

\u201cWe will inevitably find ourselves where so many may be infected or quarantined that we end up closing prematurely,\u201d Hofmeister said.<\/span><\/p>

This COVID-19\/education reporting is made possible through a grant from the Walton Family Foundation. <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following hours of contentious debate, Oklahoma\u2019s State Board of Education voted down a proposal that would\u2019ve mandated masks in many schools.The members voted 4-3 to reject a thorough plan for reopening – developed by State Department of Education and Health staff – and turn it into simply a recommendation.Cloth face coverings are recommended for children […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":209,"featured_media":32823,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17,23],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33108"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33108"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33257,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33108\/revisions\/33257"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}