Modesto school leaders ask for local control over COVID-19 plans. But what would change?
Modesto school and county leaders called for local control over school reopening plans this week, but that doesn’t mean coronavirus safety policies are changing.
The trustees of Modesto’s largest school district asked the California Department of Public Health for local decision-making power on COVID-19 protocols such as masks. Then the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 to send a letter to the state in support of the school board’s position.
“We respectfully request that you lift the statewide K-12 mask mandate and allow us to work with our local public health officials to craft facial covering policies suitable for the communities and students we serve,” school board members wrote in their letter to the state health department.
As a public school district, Modesto City Schools must follow California’s COVID-19 school reopening guidance. Masks are required inside K-12 school buildings for all students and adults sharing spaces with students.
It’s unclear how likely the board is to receive the local authority they’re seeking. Trustee Homero Mejia said they’re trying to learn whether any other school boards in the state have been given autonomy.
But if successful, trustees and Superintendent Sara Noguchi told The Modesto Bee they would defer to county public health officials on coronavirus policies. They said they wrote the letter in response to the community’s concerns and because they believe Stanislaus County’s COVID-19 metrics differ from other regions in California.
“It should be more on the local level,” Mejia said. “Figuring out what works for us based on our numbers 一 what’s happening here – rather than what’s happening in the entire state.”
At the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday, the county’s public health officer, Dr. Julie Vaishampayan, said: “We’re entering again a time of high transmission” of the virus as she gave the supervisors an update. She also told them the county is not out of the pandemic.
Stanislaus County has CDC’s worst ranking
And the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday had Stanislaus County in its red or worst ranking because of the county’s high level of transmission of the virus.
When asked Wednesday if the district would change its mask requirement were the state to grant local control, Noguchi said, “I don’t believe we would be taking off our masks right now.” She added that she’d defer that decision to local public health experts.
School board president Charlene West said in a statement that if local public health officials said to require masks inside school buildings, then “Modesto City Schools will honor their expertise and continue to comply with the requirements.”
“We are not asking for the mask mandate to be lifted if it is not in the best interest of the local community based on the rate of COVID transmission,” West said.
She said the district will continue to make tough decisions as the new school year nears.
“The health and safety of our students, teachers and staff remains at the top of our priorities in continuing to provide an engaging in-person learning environment,” she said.
The CDC recommended universal masking this week for people inside K-12 school buildings. The CDC, California public health agency and Stanislaus public health officials recommend wearing face coverings indoors as the Delta variant drives an increase in cases and hospitalizations.
Parents who spoke at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting and Monday’s school board meeting raised several reasons why their children should return to the classroom without masks. They said it should be a matter of individual choice and claimed masks are not effective and can cause harm.
They also echoed the concerns of school board members and county supervisors about how this is an issue of local control, and communities should decide for themselves.
UC Merced expert disagrees
A University of California, Merced, expert in virology and immunology said that as a parent he understands the parents’ frustration, but their solution will make the pandemic worse.
“I too am frustrated, and I too am frustrated with the virus. I’m frustrated with the pandemic. I’m tired of wearing masks,” said Juris Grasis, assistant professor of molecular cell biology.
“But what I want to tell parents,” Grasis said, “is that if a child is unmasked and unvaccinated in a closed environment with other people, and even though children aren’t getting the symptoms as much as adults are, they are still becoming infected, and then they run the risk of infecting each other and infecting other people in the family and other people who are unvaccinated.”
He said there are real consequences to that, including allowing the virus to spread and mutate into potentially more dangerous variants. Including children younger than 12 who cannot be vaccinated, only about a third of Stanislaus County’s roughly 550,000 residents are fully vaccinated.
“As much as I don’t want to continue wearing masks,” Grasis said, “the way we get through this pandemic is by preventing the transmission of the virus. And the masks are the easiest way to do that, with vaccinations being the second.”
Board members said they wrote the letter in response to the community.
“I am so grateful to all who have shared their voice,” Trustee Chad Brown said. “We have heard their pleas and I sympathize with their concerns.”
Brown said he fully supports the statement made by the school board, and noted the board would continue to rely on county health professionals.
“If local conditions improve before statewide conditions, we want the ability to bring about change before the state would give statewide direction,” Brown said.
Trustees pushing for local control
Trustee Cindy Marks said in an email she would like families to “be able to do what’s best for their children while following the safety guidelines of our county health director instead of being required to do what the state of California mandates as a general rule.”
“We have unique circumstances and should be allowed the freedom to choose how to meet the needs of our students and families,” Marks said.
Trustee John Ervin III said he thinks decision-making driven by local data would result in the best strategies.
“We would definitely rely on the county health department because they’re the experts,” Ervin said.
Grasis, the UC Merced expert, said it is disappointing that local elected officials framed the issue in terms of local control.
“In the cases of certain educational needs,” Grasis said, “I would agree with that (local control), but this is not an educational matter. This is a matter of public health (involving a highly contagious respiratory illness). The virus itself is not restricted to just Merced or Modesto or Sacramento. The virus is spread throughout the state of California and the United States and the world.”
He said framing the decision on whether to wear a mask or get vaccinated as personal choices and individual rights is the “moral equivalent of driving drunk.”
Grasis said this represents the mind-set of someone saying: “... I can drive drunk because I can handle it for myself and make my own choices ... . I don’t care about the consequences to society.”
This story was originally published August 1, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
