Turlock school board meeting canceled last-minute over COVID protocols. Here’s why
Turlock Unified canceled its school board meeting Tuesday just before it was scheduled to start, citing a “failure to adhere” to California’s mask rule.
The board has struggled to enforce mask-wearing since Stanislaus County’s mask order expired in November.
In a statement provided to The Modesto Bee Wednesday morning, district spokeswoman Marie Russell said “some participants were unwilling to adhere to the current California Department of Public Health (CDPH) requirements for masking nor were they willing to participate remotely as an accommodation established by the District and used successfully in the past.”
Russell declined to confirm whether trustee Jeffrey Cortinas refused to wear a mask. Cortinas previously said he requested a medical exemption and has refused to wear a mask at meetings, in one instance leading to the board barring student representatives from attending.
Cortinas did not respond to an email request for comment Tuesday evening asking to describe the events that led to the meeting’s cancellation. Board president Lori Carlson referred questions to Russell.
In its first meeting of 2022, the board had planned to honor two students, vote on 17 consent items and hold a public hearing on redistricting trustee areas. It was slated to vote on two additional business actions and hear reports from the superintendent, board members and the public, according to the meeting agenda.
Those items will be pushed to the Jan. 18 meeting, Russell said. The same public health rules will apply.
California’s mask mandate for indoor public spaces, initially set to expire Jan. 15, was extended Wednesday to Feb. 15. State rules for K-12 school settings will also stay in effect. They say adults must wear masks indoors when students are present.
The district is “working with legal counsel to evaluate options for moving forward to conduct school business while meeting all requirements from the CDPH,” according to the district’s statement.
In late November, the board called a special meeting to approve a resolution affirming the board would follow state public health guidelines. The resolution said adults must wear masks when students attend board meetings on invitation from the district. That typically refers to two student representatives to the board and students invited as honorees.
Cortinas at the time called the resolution a “trap” targeting him. At the following meeting in December, he participated in the board room for almost 30 minutes unmasked, saying he experienced technical issues. He participated remotely from another district room for the remainder of the meeting.
Superintendent Dana Trevethan later told The Bee “technology and accommodations were set up and available that evening for all participants.”
Cortinas said toward the end of the December meeting that he forgave trustees for past events and asked for their forgiveness in return.
The district announced the cancellation on Twitter at 6:15 p.m. Tuesday. Board meetings usually begin at 6 p.m. A link to watch the meeting virtually on YouTube was posted an hour earlier, but the recording was removed.
This story was originally published January 5, 2022 at 11:22 AM.
