The Stillwater school board on Thursday night voted to mandate masks in the district’s elementary and middle schools.
The new policy, which takes effect Aug. 30 and is intended to prevent the spread of COVID-19, requires all students, visitors and district employees to wear a mask inside facilities that house pre-K through eighth grade, regardless of whether they have been vaccinated.
Exemptions will be available for students with physical or educational disabilities. Masks may be removed to eat and during certain activities.
The policy will be revisited at the beginning of each academic quarter, or sooner if circumstances warrant, superintendent Malinda Lansfeld told the board.
“We want to err on the side of safety and what’s right for our kids during this very complex and very challenging time,” Lansfeld said. “Our priority is to keep kids in school and learning.”
The decision comes as the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus is driving a nationwide surge in infections, hospitalizations and deaths. More children are becoming sick as schools reopen, and vaccines haven’t been approved for those under age 12. Federal public health guidance recommends that children between 2 and 12 wear a mask in public spaces and around people they don’t live with.
The raucous school board meeting began with a contentious public comment period, during which five people spoke in favor of the policy and eight against it.
Stillwater resident Wally Peterson told the board he pulled his two boys out of Stillwater Area Public Schools after the mask mandate was proposed, calling it “dangerous.”
“It forced us to find a school where people are more reasonable and aligned with our beliefs,” Peterson said.
Pam Ryder, another Stillwater resident and a former teacher, advocated for the mask mandate, telling the board its opponents were “well-meaning people, but they may not have all the science at their fingertips.”
“You as a board need to commit yourself to protecting the health of our kids, our staff and our community,” she said. Some in the gallery booed Ryder as she returned to her seat, drawing a rebuke from board chairwoman Bev Petrie.
Petrie halted the meeting for five minutes before the board’s 5-1 vote to adopt the new policy, because members of the crowd repeatedly jeered school board members while they debated the measure.
The meeting was briefly interrupted again after the vote, as some in the gallery shouted their disapproval at board members, some threatening to pull their children from the district.
Stillwater joins more than a dozen other districts in the Twin Cities metro in implementing a mask requirement in its facilities, including St. Paul Public Schools.