The Wilson County School Board (WCSB) voted to end the mask mandate for students. In a unanimous vote Wednesday, the board agreed to remove their mask mandate.
During this week’s WCSB meeting, Board Director Jeff Luttrell said that based on the low amount of new COVID cases, “I’m going to recommend that we go back to, that we relieve the mask mandate, and we relieve the quarantine. But I do think… that our COVID policy will adhere to state law.”
Luttrell said during the meeting, “I want by recommendation to be that face coverings in the school building are optional. I don’t want to recommend anything, I want it to be optional, and still protect those that want to wear them.”
Luttrell continued and said that he was in favor to change their mask requirements in order to stay ahead of Lee’s order. He clarified that “we started school with ‘optional.’ That was my language. Now, if these bills become law, what I’m doing will align and put us in line with state law.”
Board member Melissa Lynn said, “I did speak with several teachers from the county from the east into the west and all grade levels. Elementary, middle, and high, and I was getting reports that very few students wear masks. Some come in with them – like their parents probably want them to – but very few of them wear them during the day. And the ones that do wear them, a lot of them are not wearing them properly.”
An analytical review of the central scientific facts about the efficacy of face coverings and claims they reduce the spread of COVID-19 published by The Tennessee Star in September showed that surgical or cloth masks do very little to halt or even reduce the transmission of COVID-19.
Board member Carrie Pfeiffer said that while she was in favor of Luttrell’s motion to remove the mask mandate, and that she was disappointed in the legislature for taking away the school’s ability to protect their students.
She added that she encouraged teachers who “know that a parent wants their child to be wearing a mask, that [they] will help that parent do what that parent wants.”
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Morgan Nicole Veysey is a reporter for The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow her on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Too little, too late. The Wilson County school board has already shown their disregard for individual rights. Vote them out.