By Megan Wehring
HAYS COUNTY — Several parents are advocating for masks to be optional for students while others want the policy to remain the same.
Come Friday, some Dripping Springs ISD (DSISD) parents will keep their kids out of school in protest. A “sit-out” flyer is circulating on social media, hoping more parents will join the alliance and forcing the school board to lift the mask requirement.
DSISD parents who choose to participate in the sit-out plan to keep their kids home from school and not allow them to log on as virtual. These kids will be counted absent. Parents are also encouraged to email the registrar and state that their child is staying home because they do not agree with the school’s safety protocols.
While her child does not attend a DSISD school, Alicia Hill, a Hays CISD parent, said the sit-out could make a difference.
“I understand the reason for the stand out,” Hill said, “the schools get funds based on attendance. A massive attendance drop [during] the last few weeks of school may or may not make a difference in the school’s bottom line.”
A DSISD teacher, who wishes to remain anonymous, said the sit-out was planned at the wrong time of year.
“I don’t think anybody is going to feel it,” the teacher said. “I think it will have no political impact or personal impact either. There are nine days of school after that. What’s the point?”
DSISD parent Thomas Lengel said there are other ways to get the message across.
“There are bigger and more pressing issues facing our society,” Lengel said. “There are plenty of other options out there if you don’t want your child to wear a mask. They don’t have to go to public schools if it’s that important to you.”
Hill suggested local school boards meet with concerned residents about the mask policy.
“The school leadership needs to host public hearings,” Hill said, “and conduct a transparent vote to show the decision-makers that the taxpayers would like to see them move towards a more common sense solution.”
Lengel said he appreciates people being passionate about this but there are still rules that need to be followed.
“I don’t walk into restaurants in Travis County,” Lengel told the Hays Free Press/News-Dispatch, “ and berate people that have a mask on because they make me wear a mask. … If my kids are going to go to public schools, I make the choice to respect those laws. If I disagree with them, I don’t get out in front of the school board and berate people and personally attack them for upholding regulations and rules that their bosses put into place.”
Both the teacher and Lengel agreed that they are ready for masks to be optional but now is not the time to go against the rules.
The FDA just authorized the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for ages 12 through 15. Lengel and the teacher said they will vaccinate their kids once doses are available locally.
Hill said she will not.
Parents have voiced their opinions about the mask issue across social media and during the public forum at school board meetings. Some support Friday’s sit-out as a platform to stand up for their kids. Others say they feel it’s safer for their kids to wear masks and there’s less than a month left of school to make a change.
DSISD said its officials will continue to review current conditions, data and upgraded guidance from the Texas Education Agency and Centers for Disease Control.
On May 3, the district implemented several protocol updates:
· Optional masks during outdoor physical activity
· A decrease in social distance spacing
· PTAs can hold in-person meetings
· Increase in outdoor event capacity
· In-person parent participation for meetings by appointment
· Increase in graduation capacity
