Lovejoy Staff and Community,
At last night's regularly scheduled board meeting, the Board of Trustees made the decision not to adjust our current mask policy, a similar position in most of the districts in Collin County and throughout the state.
We understand many are disappointed in our decision, while many others are applauding it. As stated during our meeting, we looked at this topic through all angles and stakeholders, knowing there is no easy answer. Frankly, the decision is a no-win.
Our meeting discussion included legal review, medical update, public comments, staff survey, and an enormous amount of feedback received by individual board members or the Board as a whole over the last couple of weeks through email, texts, calls, or face-to-face interactions. We have continued to monitor this topic for some time, but with the recent update from our Governor, we took a deeper look at all of our options before coming to our decision last night.
A medical update was provided by a member of our district medical advisory team that was created at the start of the school year. Dr. Christopher Newton, a local pediatrician, offered to speak on behalf of the medical advisory team last night. Dr. Newton stated that the science behind masks and the quality of masks in reducing the spread remains unclear. The Board expressed an understanding that there is no clear answer on the science around masks themselves. As was stated last night, for every five studies that show masks work, another five-show they do not. The Board's decision was not based on an endorsement around science, either way.
Mari McGowan, an attorney from Abernathy Law who provides counsel to Lovejoy ISD, provided an overview of the Governor's announcement, TEA's continued guidance, and the fact that close contact tracing and quarantine protocols have not legally changed. This information led the Board to understand that contact tracing and quarantining could lead to an even higher disruption if masks became optional rather than required. For example, an individual with a COVID-19 diagnosis who is not wearing a mask could impact an entire classroom of students and the teacher due to the current contact tracing and quarantining guidelines. The current policy, with all parties wearing masks, helps minimize the impact of close contact and quarantine.
A recent survey of our staff provided additional insight, with 68% of our staff requesting to leave the current policy in place for the remainder of the school year. On March 3rd, all teachers and staff became eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Through our partnership with the Allen Fire Department, several of our teachers and staff received their first dose of the vaccine over spring break, and the district is currently working on providing our staff with additional vaccination opportunities. A majority of our teachers have made it clear through the survey, calls, emails, face-to-face, and public comment that they prefer to continue with the current policy for the remainder of the year. This continuity will optimize their students' learning environment by limiting disruption.
As mentioned, the Board received a significant level of correspondence through email, texts, calls, and face-to-face encounters with students, parents, and community members. Specifically, with emails to the entire Board alone, the number of requestors for continuing the course with masks was roughly 70%, with 30% wanting masks to be optional. We value the enormous passion and enthusiasm for both sides of the issue. We appreciated every person and family that reached out to our Board over the course of the last two weeks to make your voice heard.
In the end, the Board of Trustees made a decision based on education disruption, not whether we believed masks work or not. Additionally, the Board's decision was not based on politics. The major driver of the decision was the pursuit of quality and continuity of education in light of the unchanged contract tracing and quarantining protocols. The Board of Trustees made it clear that our aim is to try to get through the final stretch of the year, keeping our students and teachers in class at school and optimizing their in-person learning environment. Additionally, with important testing components like AP exams at different levels, and spring extra-curriculars in high gear, the Board felt the best course of action was to give as many students as possible the opportunity to lessen their risk of quarantining by continuing to wear masks for the remaining eleven weeks of school. Additionally, we will continue to work towards the goal of being back on campus without masks for the fall of 2021.
Thank you for your support in our effort to finish the 2020-2021 school year on as positive a note as possible.
Lovejoy Proud!
Chad Collins
President, LISD Board of Trustees
