An ER physician who opposes mask mandates. A nurse and mother in favor of them. A man from out of town who's been charged as part of the Capitol insurrection.
These were just three of the faces in the crowd at a meeting of the Clarence Board of Education last week, all there to debate what has become one of the hottest of hot-button topics during the pandemic: mask mandates in schools.
It is a debate taking place in every school district in New York, and across the country. Though in New York, at least, there's an irony: the school leaders on the receiving end of pointed criticism from both sides are powerless to do anything, even if they wanted to. The mask mandate was put in place by the New York State Department of Health, at the behest of newly installed Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Anti-maskers appeared to be in the majority at Monday's school board meeting in Clarence, although there was no evidence that they were all formally aligned as a group. They ranged from medical professionals who live in the school district to other parents who expressed concerns about their children's freedom, physical safety and mental well-being during the nearly two-hour meeting. Several of the speakers opposed to the mandate chaffed at the "anti-mask" label, instead framing the issue as a matter of parental rights, arguing it should be their decision, not a school or the state, as to whether their children wear masks.
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One of the speakers was Peter J. Harding, a Cheektowaga man who was accused by federal prosecutors of taking part in the storming of the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6.
"You guys, you got a locomotive coming at you guys," Harding told the board Monday.
He said parents in the district – one in which he is not a resident – who are opposed to mandatory mask-wearing for children are well organized.
Clarence School Superintendent Matthew T. Frahm, whose appointment became effective Aug. 1, said masking, by far, is the biggest topic of discussion with parents in the district, whether communicating by email or meeting them in person at community events.
"The tough thing about this topic is that it right now is being viewed as a binary issue. It's either you mask or you don't mask," said Frahm.
He said the split is fairly even in the community.
"Some who are worried about a child's susceptibility to illness want a mask mandate. Others see it as a choice issue," Frahm said.
He noted that whatever decision is made, inevitably, some people in the district are going to be unhappy.
The woman who identified herself as an ER physician, and is the parent of two children in the district, said it was incumbent upon the board to provide parents with evidence of a clear benefit before subjecting children to wearing masks for hours in the classroom.
The Centers for Disease Control, which earlier this year released guidance recommending universal masks in schools, identified numerous studies that showed schools that do not implement a comprehensive strategy for preventing Covid, which includes universal masking, vaccines for adult staff and children who are old enough, testing, contact tracing and social distancing, are much more likely to see outbreaks.
Although those opposed to the mask mandate appeared to be in the majority, they were not unchallenged by other parents who supported the mandate.
"Masks do help reduce the spread of this virus, and other viruses. That is a fact," said a mother of two children in the district, who identified herself as a practical nurse. "It has been a fact for years, which is why we wear them in the hospital, even prior to Covid."
