Like Modesto, Turlock school district pursues local control over mask requirements
The Turlock Unified School District is following in the footsteps of Modesto City Schools, which last week sent a letter to the California Department of Public Health seeking local decision-making power on COVID-19 protocols including masks.
At its meeting Tuesday night, the TUSD board voted to work with legal counsel to create a letter asking the state to give county public health officials control of mandates and guidance for K-12 masking “based on our county’s data and not the state’s,” district spokeswoman Marie Russell said in an email.
The board received a presentation from attorney Sloan Simmons from the law firm Lozano Smith on face covering requirements. He reminded trustees, district officials and parents who packed the meeting room that per state public health guidance for the upcoming school year, students must wear face coverings when indoors, and adults must wear them when sharing indoor space with students.
The slide presentation Simmons gave notes that according to the guidance, “schools must develop and implement local protocols to provide a face covering to students who inadvertently fail to bring a face covering to school to prevent unnecessary exclusions” and “schools should offer alternative educational opportunities for students who are excluded from campus because they will not wear a face covering.”
And it says consequences of the district not enforcing the mask mandate include liability exposure (student and staff claims), misdemeanor charges, a public health order to close a school or schools, loss of future COVID-19 related public funding, a Cal/OSHA investigation and parent, staff, and student concerns about safety.
According to Turlock Journal coverage of the meeting, district Superintendent Dana Sales-Trevethan said the letter will not seek TUSD power to dictate control over masks, “but rather the ability to follow guidance from Stanislaus County public health officials based on local COVID data instead of the statewide, one-size-fits-all approach currently in place.”
On its website, TUSD posted an update on the letter. The update reads, in part, “We will specifically request that health and safety protocols be established and maintained by the Stanislaus County Health Services Agency. It is important to understand that this letter will not change TUSD’s responsibility to adhere to the State’s current indoor mask mandate until further notice or revisions to current mandates.”
Russell told The Bee the district may need to call a special board meeting to get trustees’ signatures on the letter.
