It’s not so much that the Abilene ISD board of trustees voted not to require masks of students, teachers and faculty, It’s how it happened.
With all eyes on the board, it cited possible legal issues as its reason not to ask all on campus to mask up.
Two trustees voted in favor of a district mandate. Three did not.
That left trustees Cindy Earles and Angie Wiley.
They abstained. What?
This is what they were elected for. This is the tough part of the job.
A police officer or firefighter may have routine days. But he or she is one incident away from protecting the public. The same with our military. Most days at Dyess Air Force Base are quiet. But in minutes, a B-1 bomber o C-130 hauler could be scrambled for a mission halfway around the world.
That is what you sign up for.
Wiley said she could not vote against her belief for a mask mandate. So don’t. Or do, because it’s in the best interest of the district.
We needed seven votes, not five. This is not recusing yourself for a conflict of interest, such as your brother-in-law owning the company that submits a project bid. This is voting for the course of the school district, which is why you were elected.
While we believe masks should be required again — let’s not say “mandate,” because no one likes a mandate and, honestly, it can’t be enforced — we’d better respect the board’s decision if everyone had weighed in, as elected officials should.
The district already changed its tune at the start of the year, after they heard local health leaders speak seriously about the rise in COVID-19 cases. They dropped “optional,” which carried no weight, and returned to “highly recommended.”
Gov. Greg Abbott’s ban on mask mandates among public entities, including schools, went into effect June 5. When school was out and state COVID-19 cases in the state had declined.
That decision didn’t seem like a big deal then, but it is now. Three months make a difference.
Cases in Taylor County are spiking and the Delta variant is targeting youngsters. Hendrick Health moved its dial to 6; there is no 7.
At the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, we worried for older folks and those with health issues. Now it’s our kids. Especially since vaccinations for kids under age 12 are not advised.
As we started back to school, going back to full classrooms, full hallways, full cafeterias and full gyms raise the odds of a child getting COVID-19.
Already, two AISD classrooms have been shut down.
But there is no at-home learning program in place.
Parents are rightly concerned about their child’s health and education. The efforts by schools to teach kids during this pandemic has been admirable, but time will tell the effect of a pandemic that has bitten chunks out of three school years.
Locally, the health community has raised the alarm. We had worked our way back down the dial, freeing hospital beds and, some days, reporting few new cases.
Now, it’s going the other way.
In Abilene, we respect law enforcement. Likewise, we respect our health leaders. When those folks speak, we listen.
That has been key at a time when many in the community dismiss the pandemic and insist personal “freedoms” trump caring for the community.
Some Abilene ISD leaders are not listening. We understand their challenge, but we need to rise to it. And if that means putting local health ahead of a governor’s order, we need to do it. Other districts are doing so, and the legal waters are muddy at best.
Why survey parents and not listen to more than 60% responding in favor of masks? Worried about funding? What if more than 60% of parents pull kids from school?
To worry about what might happen is not the right approach. We need to address what is happening.
Abbott should know this first hand. He tested positive. But politics seems to matter most.
Some local anti-maskers said that if the school board didn’t adhere to the governor’s ban, it would be teaching kids to break the law.
Rather, this is more like a conscientious objection. Talk to your kids about it; not every situation is easily defined.
There is a difference when you stand up for your community.
And that’s what we need to be doing.
Dr. Barry Moak in a letter to the editor wrote what others are thinking: “The 2-3-2 vote by the AISD board of trustees Monday (Aug. 30) was more than disappointing. It heralds a period in which our board seems to have lost its way.”
We return to a point we made Sunday, Aug. 29. We want local control. We didn’t believe stringent state mandates in 2020 applied to Abilene. Let us decide what’s best here, we said.
Turn that around. A state ban on mask mandates is counter to what we need to do here, now.
Don’t abstain in a crisis. Stand up.
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