When students in the Warren County R-III School District head back to the classroom on Aug. 24, they will not be required to wear masks in the buildings. School board members voted 6-1 during their monthly meeting on Aug. 12 to approve a COVID-19 protocol that makes face coverings optional on campuses. 

Students will, however, be required to wear masks while riding buses — a decision that was beyond the control of the district.

“When it comes to the buses, we do not have discretion,” said Superintendent Dr. Gregg Klinginsmith. “This is a federal order, so we do not have the ability to move one way or another on that. The same mandate that has been applied to airplanes has been applied to buses.”

In order to leave masks optional on campus, the board needed the support of at least one of its advising parties — the Centers for Disease Control, Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, or the Warren County Health Department. Ultimately, the state allowed for districts across Missouri to make their own individual decisions at the board level.

“I think the board did a wonderful job of discussing the issue fully and having an understanding of all the recommendations from different departments,” said Klinginsmith. “They listened to the needs of the public.”

The school board meeting drew considerable interest from the community, with five patrons of the district sharing comments with those in attendance. Each expressed their desire against the mandating of masks, as was the protocol for all of the 2020-21 school year.

“I think it’s always great when the public wants to participate in the board meetings,” said Klinginsmith. “Sometimes it has a bigger impact than others. This time I think the comments were in line with what the recommendation was going to be, so there wasn’t much of a change there, but it’s still helpful to hear from the community.”

Dan Morris was among those to speak, using a series of questions to compel the board against the mandating of masks again.

“I’m trying to figure out who we’re trying to protect by wearing a mask,” said Morris. “If you go anywhere around town, you don’t see anyone wearing a mask. Why would we ask children to do it, who literally have almost nothing to be worried about? I just don’t understand why we would take away their freedom and their individual rights based on fear of nothing. We don’t have a problem. We’re creating a problem.”

The other speakers echoed those sentiments and expressed their unwillingness to make their children wear masks to school.

In the past, the district based its decisions upon data and case rates in the community. R-III is now focusing more on data from within the actual buildings and classrooms.

“I think what’s important is for us to be focused on where the outbreaks were occurring,” said Klinginsmith. “That’s what we noticed last year, was we could see where pockets of outbreaks were happening. We could even see classrooms or wings where pockets were occurring and were able to monitor that closely. Now we’re just going to monitor the cases at the individual building levels. If we see a surge in cases we will put masks on, but until then it will be optional.”

For families who are uncertain about whether they want their student to attend school in person or virtually, they have until Sept. 3 to make a final decision and change enrollment if necessary.