Manatee School Board moves toward ending COVID-19 mask mandate

Though all five members of the Manatee County School Board voiced support for ending the district’s mask mandate Tuesday evening, an official vote will have to wait until Friday, one day after students leave for summer break.

Charlie Kennedy, the school board’s chairman, made the announcement to dozens of people who attended Tuesday’s meeting in protest of the district-wide mask policy for students and district employees. Taking responsibility for the delay, Kennedy said it came down to a miscalculation.

On April 30, the school board published a “notice of intent to amend Policy 8450,” which includes the mask mandate. And according to its bylaws, the board is required to wait at least 28 days after publication to change the advertised policy.

Kennedy urged fellow board members to share their stance on Tuesday and to stick by their comments during Friday’s vote. After hours of public comment, including more than 20 calls to end the mandate, board members agreed to eliminate Section B of Policy 8450, a new section that board members created last year to require masks.

Friday’s meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. at the School Support Center, 215 Manatee Ave. W., Bradenton.

School board meetings are also broadcast live on Spectrum Channel 646 and Frontier Channel 39, along with the Manatee Schools Television website, mstv.us.

‘Tyranny and government overreach’

More than 60 people gathered outside of the district administration building in downtown Bradenton on Tuesday afternoon.

While most were there to protest the school board’s mask policy, a handful also denounced critical race theory and the 1619 Project, topics that made national headlines in recent months. Neither were taught in Manatee County’s public schools, Superintendent Cynthia Saunders said on Tuesday evening.

At least a third of those protesters entered the school board chambers and chose to forgo a mask in violation of district policy.

Advocating for parental choice, some people called the mandate an over-reach by board members. Others called the mandate “child abuse,” claiming that masks cause low oxygen levels and other grave illnesses — a false but popular myth.

“We have not asked you to prevent anyone from wearing a mask if they choose,” one woman said. “But we have asked for the choice. The choice that only a parent should make.”

“We are here because you’ve stolen our children’s voices, so now we are here to be the voice for our children,” a man followed. “I’m not the smartest man in this room but I do have something called common sense. Sometimes common sense does overrule science.”

“I moved here six months ago from California, specifically to escape tyranny and government overreach,” another woman said, noting that she had three kids in local schools. “My children were really excited when we got here. We took our masks off at the airport and we went to Publix with no mask. Then I take them to school and they have to put a mask on.”

Though a handful of people called into the meeting and shared a different point of view, their voices were soon drowned out by protesters in the board chambers.

Whenever a public speaker or school board member touched on the benefits of masks or the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic, crowd members laughed or spoke out from their seats.

“In a democracy we sometimes have to sit through opinions we don’t agree with, so just because you hear somebody you don’t agree with, please still show that person respect for expressing their opinion,” Kennedy said, trying and failing to quiet the crowd.

Board members take a stance

Board member Scott Hopes, who also serves as county administrator for Manatee County Government, opened Tuesday’s board discussion.

He said masks and other safety measures allowed Manatee County’s public schools to open before many school districts in Florida and the United States. He also reaffirmed the impact of COVID-19 on the country.

“It’s real. It’s not fake,” said Hopes, who holds a master of public health degree in epidemiology.

Hopes then voiced support for ending the mask policy on Friday. Board member Gina Messenger soon agreed, calling it the “simplest and cleanest” solution to the ongoing debate.

Board members recently discussed a policy revision that would make face coverings optional, but there were contingencies. The plan would have allowed the superintendent to temporarily reinstate a mask requirement if schools suffered an outbreak or the county positivity rate hit a certain percentage.

That plan was still an overreach in protesters’ eyes. They wanted no mask requirements at any time, under any conditions, and the board responded with the simpler plan on Tuesday: Strike the mask requirement in its entirety.

Kennedy supported the plan, as did board member Mary Foreman, who stressed the need for students and families to have a choice in the new school year, including the choice to continue wearing masks.

Vice-Chair James Golden confirmed his support for the change, but not before defending the choice to require masks in a pandemic school year. When the policy was created, he said, there were no vaccines and no telling how many people would die from COVID-19.

As of Tuesday evening, the death toll across America was more than half a million, including 685 Manatee County residents.

“I know that doesn’t mean anything to you because what you want to talk about is your child,” Golden said, addressing a crowd that grew increasingly agitated with the vice-chair’s comments.

“People were dying,” he continued, explaining the need for a mask mandate last year. “Not your children. Not your family. But they were, and there’s not one family under the jurisdiction of this school board that is any more or any less important than any other family.”

Tuesday’s conversation came at a time when COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations were slowing throughout the nation, a result of recent vaccination efforts.

Three vaccines are currently available in the U.S., and one — the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine — is now open to children as young as 12.

Moderna also announced on Tuesday that its vaccine proved to be effective in children 12 to 17 years old. The company will apply for authorization to use the vaccine in adolescents by next month.

This story was originally published May 25, 2021 at 8:59 PM.