{"id":34400,"date":"2021-12-16T06:00:15","date_gmt":"2021-12-16T12:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=34400"},"modified":"2021-12-15T17:21:45","modified_gmt":"2021-12-15T23:21:45","slug":"even-with-green-light-few-oklahoma-schools-are-requiring-masks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2021\/12\/16\/even-with-green-light-few-oklahoma-schools-are-requiring-masks\/","title":{"rendered":"Even with green light, few Oklahoma schools are requiring masks"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"width: 100%; height: 200px; margin-bottom: 20px; border-radius: 6px; overflow: hidden;\"><iframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 200px;\" src=\"https:\/\/player.captivate.fm\/episode\/ba7ee3c9-587e-4736-aa16-93eb6eb271ea\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More than 60 private schools and public school districts required their students to mask up this fall.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That\u2019s a far cry from the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2020\/11\/19\/masking-rules-a-patchwork-in-oklahoma-schools\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">hundreds of public school districts<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that had mask mandates last school year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Centers for Disease Control and Oklahoma\u2019s State Department of Education recommend students mask in classrooms. But political and legal realities have made it incredibly difficult for schools to require them.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Earlier this year, Oklahoma\u2019s legislature passed Senate Bill 658. It appeared that with vaccines for adults and the promise of one for children coming soon, the legislation would have little effect. But, when Gov. Kevin Stitt lifted a state of emergency, it closed the door on potential masking requirements in schools. This created backlash. A group of doctors, parents and students sued the state over the bill. There\u2019s currently an injunction in place that says schools can require masks, as long as they let students opt out. Some schools <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2021\/09\/09\/see-which-oklahoma-schools-are-requiring-masks-with-opt-out-provisions-now-that-its-officially-allowed-under-state-law\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">took advantage<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> but many more continued to simply encourage mask wearing.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So that leaves plenty of questions to close 2021 and open the new school year. And StateImpact is going to try to answer them:<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>How bad has COVID-19 been in Oklahoma schools?<\/b><\/h3><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Oklahoma state officials probably have a decent idea but the public has yet to get a full picture.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In fall 2020, StateImpact made an <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/okspj.com\/awards\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">award<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foioklahoma.org\/ben-blackstock-award\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">winning<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> effort to track cases of the coronavirus in a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2020\/09\/10\/a-month-into-the-fall-semester-stateimpact-oklahoma-has-tracked-hundreds-of-covid-19-cases-in-schools\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">vast majority of Oklahoma schools<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. This fall, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2021\/08\/19\/as-a-new-school-year-starts-stateimpact-is-again-tracking-covid-19s-impact\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">at least 50 schools<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> had to temporarily pivot to distance learning or shut down because of COVID-19.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For individuals, each quarantine and positive test inflicted trauma on a student or <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2021\/09\/02\/an-oklahoma-teacher-shares-her-battle-with-the-coronavirus\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">school staff member<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. It\u2019s created fear among parents and caused <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2021\/09\/09\/coronavirus-pandemic-causes-lagging-kindergarten-and-pre-k-enrollments\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">record low enrollment<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in early grades, delaying critical development for students.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But the pandemic\u2019s overall impact is still to be determined. And we likely won\u2019t know how much it affected children for years.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Where is the SB 658 case now?<\/b><\/h3><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In September, Oklahoma County District Court Judge Natalie Mai issued a temporary <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kosu.org\/education\/2021-09-01\/judge-issues-temporary-injunction-halting-mask-mandate-ban-in-oklahoma-schools\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">injunction<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that allowed public schools to mandate masks as long as they offered an opt out provision. Mai said she did that because private schools were allowed to issue mask mandates and private and public schools should be treated equally under the law.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Oklahoma Attorney General John O\u2019Connor\u2019s office immediately appealed that decision to the Oklahoma Supreme Court and asked for the injunction to be lifted. Several things could happen from here, ranging from a lifting of the injunction to the supreme court declaring the law unconstitutional. But regardless, the legal battle is likely to drag into 2022.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>How many schools masked up amid the injunction?<\/b><\/h3><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A StateImpact review of Oklahoma schools\u2019 masking policies showed that at least 36 of the state\u2019s more than 500 public school districts issued masking rules allowed under the injunction. Many of those were charter districts located in Oklahoma City.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Additionally, 24 private schools in Oklahoma issued mask mandates. They weren\u2019t required to have an opt out provision for students.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>How many schools are masking up now?<\/b><\/h3><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many of the mask requirements issued earlier this year remain in effect. A StateImpact review found three private schools and eight public school districts had weakened their masking rules since they were issued earlier this year.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The schools that had masking rules &#8211; the public schools all had opt out provisions &#8211; but have since lifted them to a degree include:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mid-Del Public Schools<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Keys Public Schools<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tulsa Public Schools<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">McAlester Public Schools<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Briggs Public School<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jenks Public Schools<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Noble Public Schools<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Burns Flat-Dill City Public Schools<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Riverfield Country Day School in Tulsa<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Westminster School in Oklahoma City<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Holland Hall in Oklahoma City<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>What affect have the mask mandates had?<\/b><\/h3><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In urban districts and in charter schools the mask requirements have led to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2021\/09\/23\/santa-fe-south-was-the-first-district-to-implement-a-mask-mandate-in-oklahoma-this-fall-heres-how-its-going\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">quite a bit more masking<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In rural and suburban settings, they haven\u2019t had as big of an impact. In rural Stilwell Public Schools for example superintendent <\/span><a href=\"mailto:ggilstrap@stilwellk12.org\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Geri Gilstrap<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> told StateImpact that a majority of the district\u2019s students had opted out of a masking requirement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In suburban districts like Edmond and Jenks, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oklahoman.com\/story\/news\/education\/2021\/09\/10\/more-okc-school-districts-require-covid-masks-citing-court-order\/8256516002\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">thousands<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/tulsaworld.com\/news\/local\/education\/few-mask-opt-outs-at-tps-union-amid-school-district-recommendations\/article_781f8af6-1ca5-11ec-9291-a31f54db36ec.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">students<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> opted out of mask requirements.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nobody has really studied the full impact of masking in Oklahoma schools. But at least one <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/mmwr\/volumes\/70\/wr\/mm7039e1.htm\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CDC study<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> says students in schools without universal masking are 3.5 times more likely to catch the coronavirus.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>What will school look like during the spring 2022 semester?<\/b><\/h3><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This semester might be the clearest since the pandemic began. It will likely be a continuation of this fall. Mitigation strategies will continue to be necessary and closures and absences will be common.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With an increase in vaccinations there should be fewer cases of the virus. Right now only about 20% of people under the age of 18 have gotten a COVID-19 vaccine, though.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If the coronavirus has taught us anything it\u2019s that the only thing that can truly be expected is the unexpected.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More than 60 private schools and public school districts required their students to mask up this fall.That\u2019s a far cry from the hundreds of public school districts that had mask mandates last school year.\u00a0The Centers for Disease Control and Oklahoma\u2019s State Department of Education recommend students mask in classrooms. But political and legal realities have [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":209,"featured_media":33955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[1223,1238],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34400"}],"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=34400"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34404,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34400\/revisions\/34404"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}