Turlock Unified schools trustee flouts mask rule for nearly 30 minutes of meeting
For about 25 minutes Tuesday evening, a Turlock Unified trustee and members of the public attended a school board meeting unmasked despite the board’s rule requiring face coverings when students are present.
This was the first board meeting involving student representatives since they were told to leave Nov. 16 because adults refused to wear face coverings. The board passed a resolution at a special meeting Nov. 29 requiring masks when students attend at the district’s request. That applies to two high school students who serve as board representatives and students invited as honorees.
At the special meeting, which students did not attend, people did not wear masks as trustees and members of the public pressed for details on how the board would enforce its rules.
Assistant Superintendent Barney Gordon said people who chose not to wear masks would be asked to participate through a livestream in a separate room. Asked what would happen if people did not comply, Gordon said, “We’ll cross that bridge if it should come.”
Tuesday was the board’s first chance to show how enforcement would work, or not work.
Though not set up from the start, district officials eventually arranged a system for Trustee Jeffrey Cortinas, who has not worn a mask at previous meetings, to participate remotely in the meeting that lasted about three hours.
This system could change soon. A statewide mask mandate for public indoor spaces took effect Wednesday through Jan. 15.
Before the meeting began, Gordon offered masks to a couple of mask protesters near the back of the boardroom. They firmly declined and remained in their seats.
Board President Lori Carlson initially marked Cortinas absent. He walked in two minutes afterward, not wearing a mask.
His colleagues did not acknowledge that he was flouting the rule. Carlson continued speaking and started the public comment section of the meeting.
Cortinas requested to add to the record that he was not late but had been waiting to log into the meeting from the separate room. He said he encountered technical difficulties.
He and the couple of other unmasked people stayed through all of public comment, unchallenged by district staff or the board.
In a comment provided to The Modesto Bee on Wednesday morning, Cortinas said he offered to use a plastic partition after the district recognized his mask exemption. (At a previous meeting, Cortinas said he requested a medical exemption months earlier and had not received a formal denial.)
District officials asked him to wear a face shield, Cortinas said. “To keep things simple, I said I was open to remoting in for the meetings, which the district agreed,” he said.
A couple of people who spoke against masks and vaccines at last month’s special meeting again urged the board to grant them freedom to choose. One man characterized a face covering as an “unwanted medical intervention” and said requiring masks — as the state orders — falls outside the authority of local officials.
Former district science teacher Ryan Hollister, who now teaches classes at Stanislaus State University and Modesto Junior College, walked into the meeting room to give the last public comment. Then he walked back out. He said he’d been watching the livestream from home.
Hollister asked trustees how they planned to enforce masks. “It looks like the bridge has been crossed tonight,” he said.
It felt “soul crushing” to see the district unable to enforce rules, he said.
“There’s no business worth anybody’s life,” Hollister added, “especially with omicron circulating now.”
Trustees then went into closed session. When they returned for more than two and a half hours of open session, Cortinas was not with them. He watched video of the meeting from a room nearby, and spoke via a speaker.
Eventually, the community members sitting at the back of the room without masks left, too. The Bee was not able to determine whether they watched from the other room.
In his statement to The Bee, Cortinas said the initial technical issues and miscommunications were resolved. “Accommodations were made by the district and myself,” he said. “I believe the next meeting will be a similar format and hopefully less bumpy moving forward.”
In a comment at the end of the meeting, Cortinas said he had talked with Superintendent Dana Trevethan about how the board reached such a tense point.
Cortinas previously accused the board of targeting him with the resolution to follow public health guidelines on masks. Other trustees called him a bully. “I forgive Dana, I forgive the board for whatever happened, and I humbly ask for forgiveness, too, as well,” he said.
This story was originally published December 16, 2021 at 12:00 AM.
