When Trigg County’s students return to school following the Christmas break, new masking guidance against COVID-19 will take effect.
During Thursday’s Trigg County Board of Education meeting, board members voted 4-1 in favor of a tiered option beginning January 2 that will be directly tied to the county’s weekly incidence rate. A week-to-week assessment based on information released every Thursday by the Department of Public Health will determine the next week’s masking standards.
If Trigg County is considered “red,” students and staff will be required to mask indoors at all times.
If Trigg County falls into the “orange,” students and staff will be required to mask when on the move — particularly in hallways — but can remove them while indoors and stationary.
If Trigg County dips back into “yellow” or “green” incidence rates, students and staff will observe a mask-optional approach.
For more than 40 minutes, board members, Superintendent Bill Thorpe, the school’s attorney Jack Lackey and visitor Justin Hite entered into discourse about student/teacher fatigue, masking, vaccine efficacy and the strain around all of it.
Thorpe briefly discussed two other options — moving to completely mask-optional, or remaining in masks at all times regardless of incidence until February — with neither gathering much steam.
Board member Clara-Beth Hyde offered the lone “nay” vote, stating the tiered option would be too confusing to implement district-wide. This was deflected by another board member, Charlene Sheehan.
Multiple board members cited surrounding counties have already begun to loosen their masking restrictions, and stated the current mask mandate in place for Trigg County is “beginning to be a battle” with students, faculty and staff in and out of the classroom. Certain instances of children all the way to adults have been either hesitant or outright failed to wear a face covering while indoors, and that this quibbling has been taking away from learning activities in the classroom.
Board member Gayle Rufli, a nurse for 40-plus years, said following the science meant masking until the vaccine numbers were stronger on campus, and she didn’t particularly much care for the idea of masking fatigue.
Hite noted “trying something different” could be a good approach, considering the district’s COVID-19 numbers have crested and fallen in accordance with holidays — despite the school’s current mandate.
Before a deep discussion could unfold regarding whether these vaccines actually worked, Lackey closed the floor — noting the point of Thursday’s meeting was to discuss school policy, and not divert into scientific debate.
Trigg County Schools currently have 12 active cases among students (its most since October 21), with one active case in with faculty and 60 students in quarantine.
No matter Trigg County’s incidence rate, a federal mandate for masking remains on all public transport across the country, and this includes district school buses.
The collective soon followed that decision by unanimously opting for a “test-to-stay” policy also beginning January 2, which will provide the district with state-organized and state-paid COVID-19 swabbing by trained officials for students and faculty — which Thorpe and Lackey noted will not only improve quarantine rates, but could also lead to earlier detection of positive cases.
At any time, the Trigg County Board of Education can call a special session and change its decision based on COVID-19 data — just as the McCracken County Schools did earlier this week.
