Parents rally behind trustees
District faces loss of insurance, legal action over vote to ignore mask mandate
Facing legal action from one of California’s largest and most powerful teachers’ unions, the loss of insurance and funding, the Soulsbyville School District Governing Board held an emergency meeting Wednesday night where some parents voiced support for the board’s controversial Dec. 13 resolution to ignore the state’s COVID-19 masking requirements and vowed to find ways to support the school financially.
A letter sent to the board by the California Teachers Association before the meeting demands that the district comply with a state public health mandate requiring students to wear masks while indoors and threatens to challenge the district if it does not.
The board met mostly behind closed doors Wednesday night to discuss with their lawyers the letter dated Dec. 17 from Jean Shin, CTA staff counsel and attorney for the Soulsbyville Teachers Association, in which Shin said the CTA “reserves all rights to challenge the district’s unlawful conduct by any means available.”
More than 30 people packed into the meeting room at 6 p.m. Wednesday before the board went into a closed session outside of public view to talk about the anticipated litigation. About a third to half of the people in the room wore masks.
Some parents said they are willing to help the board cover legal expenses and other costs associated with defending the resolution.
“I’ll donate 25 percent of my income to support you guys,” Mark Brooks, a Soulsbyville parent, said.
Jeremy Wallace, another Soulsbyville parent, thanked the board for “listening to the community” in response to a survey at the school that found 83% of the more than 300 parents who responded said they rarely to never mask their children in public and don’t believe they should be required to wear them while at school.
“You heard us,” he said. “I’m proud of the board.”
Lauren Munson, who’s also the parent of a student at Soulsbyville Elementary, urged the board to “stay strong” in the
face of threats that the school will lose its insurance coverage and nearly $500,000 in federal funding unless the resolution is rescinded before it takes effect on Jan. 3 when classes resume after winter break.
“We asked you to be bold, and you did it,” she said. “Don't go back on it.”
However, the opposition to masking among parents at the school is not monolithic.
A group of parents on one side of the room Wednesday night included Sarah Garcia, who has two children attending Soulsbyville Elementary. Garcia stood to criticize the board for putting the school at financial risk.
“This potential litigation really puts into question my faith in you,” she told the fivemember board. “You should have known the laws. It really concerns me that you all don't know the basic laws that apply to running a school.”
The board took no action after more than three hours in a closed session that ended just before 10 p.m., according to Josh Milbourn, the board president, and Jeff Winfield, the district superintendent. The next regular board meeting is scheduled Jan. 13.
Before the closed session began, some parents were dismissive of the teachers' union's threats, as well as the decision last week by the Tuolumne Joint Powers Authority to strip the district of insurance coverage against claims, costs or litigation stemming from the board's resolution.
“They're blowing smoke,” said James Burroughs, who has a nephew at Soulsbyville Elementary and a child at Sonora Elementary. “There are other options to JPA insurance.”
The 19-member board that oversees the Tuolumne JPA, which represents 21 school districts in four counties, voted 18-0 with one abstention at a special board meeting on Dec. 16 to drop the Soulsbyville district from coverage of any costs associated with the resolution approved three days earlier.
Furthermore, the district's membership in the JPA will be reevaluated and recommend
“This potential litigation really puts into question my faith in you.you should have known the laws. It really concerns me that you all don't know the basic laws that apply to running a school.”
— Sarah Garcia, parent of Soulsbyville Elementary students
ed for revocation if its board doesn't rescind the resolution before it takes effect on Jan. 3, according to Norma Wallace, the authority's executive director
Paul Schlichtman, a parent of two boys at Soulsbyville Elementary, said after the meeting that most of the parents back the board and support “optional mask wearing.”
“Saying the board is irresponsible or incompetent compared to the rest of the county is ignorant,” he said. “Some school has to step out and be first at this.”
Shin, speaking for the Soulsbyville Teachers Association, said in the letter printed on California Teachers Association stationary that state public health guidance on masking is not optional at K-12 schools statewide.
“In addition to being mandatory under state law, compliance with the CDPH (California Department of Public Health) guidance is critical for the health and safety of students and staff,” and for legal protection of the Soulsbyville School District, Shin said in the letter.
Parents at the meeting Wednesday night took heart that the board did not rescind the resolution in response to the threats and cited legal challenges against masking and vaccines in school districts in Los Angeles and San Diego counties.
Although some Soulsbyville parents argue there's no scientific evidence that COVID-19 endangers children and no need for them to wear masks in schools, data from the Tuolumne County Public Health Department through Wednesday this week shows children younger than 12 have accounted for 575 total positive cases and children 12 to 17 have accounted for 564 cases.
The combined total of 1,139 cases involving county youth under 18 represents 17.5% of the total 6,512 community cases since the pandemic began early last year.
In January, the death of a Tuolumne County youth under 18 with underlying conditions was attributed to COVID-19. The young person's death was recorded as the county's 42nd coronavirus fatality.
No information was released about the youth's exact age, gender, date and location of death, or the type of underlying conditions. Dr. Eric Sergienko, the county's interim health officer, said he could not provide any additional details on Thursday.
The virus had killed a total
of 148 county residents as of Thursday afternoon, with more than half of those deaths reported since Aug. 1.
Sergienko said everyone in the community benefits from children masking because there is reduced transmission of disease with mask wearing, and evidence to date shows that kids can adapt to it. He also said he looked for studies demonstrating causation between masking and behavioral health issues, but hasn't found anything that directly links the two.
“The closest thing I could find is this study that surveyed parents in the US and Canada — that the child's behavior reflects the knowledge, attitudes and intentions of the parents,” he said. “In the sum of the knowledge that we have, we know that masks lead to decreased transmission of disease, while limited studies to date do not support the argument that mask wear leads to either anxiety or depression.”