Masks required: Turlock Unified will uphold rules after trustee refuses to wear one
In a polarized meeting Monday, Turlock Unified trustees affirmed they will uphold public health guidelines on masks, though enforcement remains unclear.
“We’ll cross that bridge if it should come,” Barney Gordon, assistant superintendent for business services, told trustees.
Superintendent Dana Trevethan told The Bee the board would propose a resolution requiring masks following the Nov. 16 meeting, at which student board representatives were told to leave because community members and Trustee Jeffrey Cortinas refused to wear face coverings in accordance with state rules. Cortinas did not wear a mask on Monday and called the resolution a “trap.”
“Say what you will, but it’s directed towards me,” he said.
The special meeting was called exclusively to consider a resolution titled “Expectations of board meetings while students are present.” Student representatives do not attend special board meetings. The board wanted to vote before student representatives are next scheduled to attend, Gordon said.
The meeting embodied the divisive politics seen at school board meetings across the country. Trustees and community members fought over science on the effectiveness of masks, the right to choose and the need for civility. Board members Mary Jackson and Anthony Silva called Cortinas a bully.
In the end, the resolution passed with five votes in favor. Trustee Kenneth Howenstine dissented and Cortinas abstained.
“It’s not who’s right or who’s wrong,” Silva said. “It’s what’s right. As a board, we’re going to work real hard to do what’s right.”
“Nothing in here that should be controversial”
District officials have heard complaints from community members, employees and board members regarding people not following state public health requirements during board meetings, Gordon told trustees.
The resolution was intended to share California public health rules that apply to board meetings, Gordon said.
“There’s nothing in here that should be controversial,” he said. “It’s all exactly from the requirements of the law.”
California requires all adults to wear masks in K-12 school settings when students are present. Turlock’s resolution states that board meetings constitute school settings when students attend “in any official capacity” or by invitation.
Guidance from the California Department of Public Health does not define a school setting. The Law Insider website says a school setting “means in the school, on school grounds, in school vehicles, at a designated bus stop or at any activity sponsored, supervised or sanctioned by the school.”
Two students attended on Monday with their parents, but because they weren’t there under the district’s supervision, the board meeting was not a school setting, Gordon said.
State guidelines for indoor public spaces applied, board president Lori Carlson said as the meeting began. Only unvaccinated people were asked to wear face coverings.
The board’s agenda notes that all people must wear face coverings, but Gordon said via email Tuesday that the language will be updated.
The district has received guidance from multiple lawyers and firms on face masks in general, Gordon told trustees. The district could be fined over $13,000 per violation of Cal/OSHA labor laws, he said.
The district was not able to gather the amount of money spent on legal advice on masks by The Bee’s deadline, Gordon said. The district has not been fined or warned by Cal/OSHA for people not wearing masks in the board room, he said.
Reactions to students excluded from meeting
Two people who spoke in favor of their right to choose whether to wear a mask and receive the COVID-19 vaccine said trustees used students as “political pawns” when they told them to leave the most recent meeting.
In response, Gordon said Tuesday that the district did not experience issues related to public health requirements until the Nov. 2 board meeting. “We would like nothing more than to return to conducting meetings as we have since the beginning of this school year,” he wrote.
Trustee Mary Jackson said the board should have adjourned the Nov. 16 meeting when students left. “We need to keep our students representing our school board,” she said.
A few community members made similar statements during public comment. “I believe that was absolutely punishing the wrong party,” Cassandra Abram said.
The resolution declares student participation “is to be encouraged, promoted, and valued.”
Plans to enforce mask-wearing
Ryan Hollister, a professor at Modesto Junior College and Stanislaus State University and former district science teacher, applauded the resolution for displaying a comment to peer-reviewed science.
He asked the board to define its plan to enforce it, for the sake of students and teachers who must abide by mask requirements at school.
“It just makes it really hard, especially when there’s no good example set at the highest level,” he said.
Hollister suggested opening a separate room for people who choose not to wear a mask.
“So kind of what you mean is you want to segregate everybody,” Cortinas said.
“Yes,” Hollister replied. “You deserve to be segregated.”
Gordon said people who choose not to wear masks will be asked to participate in a room next door, where meetings will be livestreamed and people can comment via computers.
As for board members, Gordon said “our expectation is that the will of the board will be respected.”
The Bee asked district officials Tuesday whether Cortinas would be asked to leave if he does not wear a mask to the next regularly scheduled board meeting. He made no indication he would do so.
Gordon responded that the board’s bylaws require all trustees to comply with the resolution because it passed with a majority vote. “Should this not occur, the Board may choose to alter the way in which Board meetings are conducted,” he wrote.
Cortinas said he requested a medical exemption two months ago and has not received a formal denial. Gordon said he did not recall an email from a doctor or any kind of medical exemption.
Stating that the board would follow mandates already in place “feels like a waste of time,” Cortinas said.
The community is divided, he said, and people need to work together to repair it.
“He’s been primarily the one responsible for dividing this district and placating to a certain group instead of representing the entire district,” Silva responded.
The board’s next regularly scheduled meeting is Dec. 14, according to the district’s calendar.
This story was originally published November 30, 2021 at 3:09 PM.
