Turlock Unified won’t ask California public health for local control over masks in schools
The trustees of Turlock Unified School District won’t send a letter they had drafted to state officials asking to lift statewide COVID-19 mandates for K-12 schools.
The letter did not receive enough support from the board to bring it to a vote, though it was the only item on the agenda for the special meeting held Monday evening.
The letter draft, addressed to Gov. Gavin Newsom and top California Department of Public Health officials, asked for the ability to work with Stanislaus County public health officials to devise safety measures that reflect local COVID-19 data.
Masks are required inside all K-12 school buildings in California due to a mandate from state public health officials. In July, trustees for Modesto City Schools approved a letter asking the state for local control over masking, but the mask requirement dictated by the state remains in effect.
Turlock’s decision to not send the letter means Modesto City Schools is the only Stanislaus district known to have formally requested local authority on coronavirus policies in schools.
Turlock trustees consulted with an attorney over their legal obligations to follow the state’s mandates. The attorney advised that the district could face liability exposure, 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 if school officials declined to implement the state’s K-12 mask mandate.
Turlock school board members wrote that the state’s approach “is causing division in our community as a result of the confusion created by shifting legal obligations and failure to consider a local approach instead of State mandates.”
Parents have protested K-12 mask mandates throughout the pandemic and ahead of this school year, which starts this week for many students.
But families from a pro-science advocacy group attended the meeting in support of masks. They brought signs with messages like “Masks = Safety” and “Tell TUSD to Trust Science! Masks & vaccines save lives”.
Meanwhile, at another Monday school board meeting, Oakdale Joint Unified leaders addressed the district’s mask policy and answered questions from concerned parents.
“We did our best to communicate what the law said,” Superintendent Dave Kline said Tuesday.
Oakdale will join the rest of Stanislaus school districts in requiring masks indoors for students and adults, Kline said. The board did not vote on the mask policy because the district must follow the state mandate, he said.
This story was originally published August 10, 2021 at 2:12 PM.
