Scottsdale Unified To Require Masks

SCOTTSDALE, AZ — Scottsdale Unified students will have to don face masks at school, beginning Aug. 20.

At the end of a lengthy school board meeting, preceded by a parent protest, board members voted 4-1 in favor of implementing a mask requirement. Board member Zach Lindsay voted against the mandate.

A crowd of parents and concerned citizens gathered on the sidewalk outside of the district's Mohave Annex Tuesday evening, waving American flags and holding signs that shared messages such as, "masks = fake science," and "I do not coparent with SUSD's governing board."

Protester and Scottsdale Unified parent Sara Solem said that her 8-year-old child was in tears when the family learned that the district was considering reinstating a mask mandate.

The district required masks for students learning in person last year, but Solem said that many parents based their decision to send their kids to Scottsdale Unified this year on the expectation that masks would be optional.

“These kids expected to go to school this year without forced masking,” she said. “They feel like a promise has been broken.”

Solem is one of the ambassadors for the Facebook Group SUSD Can, an advocacy group of Scottsdale Unified parents that formed last year.

School board member Libby Hart-Wells, who called for the special Tuesday night meeting to vote on a mask requirement, said she believes the entire Scottsdale Unified community wants the same thing: for kids to continue attending school in person. Students started off last school year virtually.

Relying on individual decisions to keep the spread of COVID-19 in check has not gone well so far, Hart-Wells said.

As of Wednesday, more than 2,000 Scottsdale Unified students were stuck at home because they tested positive for the virus or were a close contact of someone who tested positive. That's almost 10 percent of the district's student population. Quarantine requirements for close contacts are set by the Maricopa County Public Health Department.

“Folks, this is getting away from us,” Hart-Wells said.

Anyone who is in favor of in-person school should support masking, she said, and most people agree that in-person schooling is best for students.

Solem trusted that the district would follow through on what she said were multiple promises it made over the summer to ensure that masks would be optional.

“Now they’re saying, ‘actually we’ve given you the choice for 10 days but now we think we know best so we’re now going to force the mandate even though we said we would allow you to choose,’” Solem said.

Monday was the district's ninth day of school this year.

It was the district's intention to continue a mask-optional policy, but the district was always clear that its plans could change based on circumstances, said Superintendent Scott Menzel.

So far, the district has seen 95 positive cases on its campuses. It didn't see numbers like that last year, when students were required to wear masks, Menzel said, although he admitted that the more contagious delta variant played a factor in the spread.

Charity Miller, who lives in Scottsdale, but whose children don't attend district schools, said that she took part in the protest Tuesday night because she thinks that wearing masks is dangerous for all children, not just her own.

“Kids can’t manage to keep a mask clean,” she said.

Several protesting parents stressed the struggle Scottsdale's youngest students face learning phonics and socializing when they can’t see the faces of their teachers or their peers.

Briana Santiago has three children attending Scottsdale Unified schools, one each in sixth grade, third grade and kindergarten. Her older two children wore masks while attending district schools last year, and they don't want to go back, she said.

“If they do mandate masks, we will be pulling our children out of SUSD,” Santiago said before the meeting.

Her family plans to look for a private or charter school that doesn't require masks.

Solem believes that the district already has plenty of good mitigation strategies in place, without a mask requirement. Those strategies include hand washing, extra cleaning and keeping kids home if they are ill.

“I think that those are very appropriate and responsible things to do,” Solem said.

Last week, the district sent home 150 symptomatic students.

“We are able and capable of making the best decisions for our families,” Solem said.

Several parents attempted to share their feelings about the mask mandate during the public comment portion of a public hearing that the school board held prior to the discussion and vote on the mask requirement. The district cut off those parents, who called in to make their comments since the meeting was closed to the public and only viewable via YouTube.

Typically comments during a public hearing are limited to the topic of the public hearing. Tuesday's public hearing was on an instructional model that would make it possible for quarantined or sick students to learn from home without being counted absent.