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Wood County BOE votes to make masks optional

By Tyler Bennett 4 min read

PARKERSBURG -- The Wood County Schools Board of Education narrowly approved the optional use of masks when student return to school soon.

In a special meeting Friday morning, the school board voted 3-2 in favor of strongly recommending but giving the option that all individuals wear a face covering while indoors on school campuses.

Board members Rick Olcott, Justin Raber and Debbie Hendershot voted in favor of the recommendation with Judy Johnson and Ron Tice opposed.

Inside a packed Bailey Board Room, Johnson proposed an amendment that Wood County Schools should require all individuals in Pre K-fifth grade to wear a face-covering while indoors on-campus and/or on buses in addition to maintaining at least three feet of physical distance when possible.

She also strongly recommending that sixth-12th grader wear masks on-campus/buses as well as social distancing.

Gov. Jim Justice lifted the mask mandate in June and Wood County did not require students to wear masks during summer school.

Johnson said the reason to require all students in Pre K-fifth was because with the recent rise in positive COVID cases in the state, younger students are more at risk to get sick and get others sick by not being old enough to receive the vaccine.

"What the difference between summer and today, is that West Virginia in the last week has gone from 1,000 active cases to 5,000. We have to look at this. We have a responsibility to all children and several studies have said that masks are more effective if both people in the same area are wearing masks," said Johnson, a former elementary teacher in the district for 30 years, adding younger students are still learning how not to spread germs and practice good hygiene.

"With little ones, you're just teaching them not to cough in somebody's face, they sneeze and they drool. It's a different situation in elementary school. We need to have that extra layer of protection to protect all of our children in that classroom," she said.

Tice was in support of the act, stating that the majority are more worried about their child, and not concerned about other children's health.

Tice also said wearing masks should only be for a couple of weeks when the first day of school starts on Thursday. The county can follow the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources COVID color map to keep or stop wearing masks for that week.

"They're worried about individuals as opposed to the community, they're not concerned about the other people in the room," Tice said. "They're concerned about my child. I want my child not to wear a mask or I want my child to wear a mask. What I feel is that as a board member, my job is trying to protect the health of all the students in the county."

Raber, the school board's president, said the students' parents or guardians know their children the best, knowing when they should and shouldn't send their child to school along with the numerous protocols the district follows to prevent the transmission within schools. Raber recommended voting down Johnson's amendment and was joined in the vote by board members Hendershot and Olcott.

"I know that I represent a constituency and about 65 percent or so of the people that contacted me by email and phone, were against us putting a mandate in place. I'm elected by Wood County citizens, I'm looking at if it's a 65-35 split. If I go a different way, then I'm not honoring the input that's coming from the community around this," Olcott said.

The board listened to 25 speakers on the matter, with the majority of the speakers in favor of not enforcing a mask mandate for Wood County Schools. Those opposed stated that it should be their right if they want their children to wear or not wear a mask for the upcoming school year.

Others spoke in support of a mask mandate, citing safety for not only the children but for the safety of their family and teachers as well.

Tyler Bennett can be reached tbennett@newsandsentinel.com

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