Ark Valley News - School board keeps masks

School board keeps masks
By Chris Strunk
Last Updated: April 22, 2021

Saying its goal is to keep students in school, the Valley Center school board denied a parent's request to get rid of the district's mask mandate last week.

During a special hearing April 8, the school board voted 7-0 to keep the mandate, but soften the rules for teachers, sports spectators and some students.

The formal request, using a recently passed state statute, was brought by Richard Ranzau, the parent of a high school student and a former Sedgwick County commissioner.

Ranzau argued April 5 that the district's mandate was an unnecessary overreach that infringed on his ability to make decisions about his own child's health care.

He said that masks and social distancing should be recommended but not required.

He said the new Senate Bill 40 requires districts to use focused and less restrictive measures in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On April 8, the school reconvened to discuss Ranzau's request.

Board President Bart Balthazor said without a mask mandate, the district could be forced to send entire classrooms into quarantine if students are exposed to another student who comes down with the virus.

Previously established state law gives the county the authority to enforce isolation and quarantine.

Ranzau said Sedgwick County's policy to quarantine student contacts who are not masked has been discontinued, and the school district is wrongly reverting to previous state law.

"Clearly they're confused," Ranzau said. "The one they were operating under all this time is gone. It's no longer mandatory. Now they're changing their arguments to fit the outcome they want. That's very disappointing."

The school district disagreed.

"It is our belief and our attorney's belief that we cannot modify the quarantine order," Superintendent Cory Gibson said. "It's a separate law, separate from Senate Bill 40."

The school board allowed some exceptions to the mask mandate.

They approved:

•A measure that will essentially adopt Kansas State High School Activities Association guidance that allows outdoor sports spectators to not wear masks, as long as they can maintain six feet of social distancing.

•A measure that will allow pre-kindergarten students to remove their masks in their classrooms with their teachers' permission.

•A measure that allows staff to remove their masks if no students or members of the public are present and they can maintain six feet of social distancing from coworkers.

Ranzau said he is considering his next steps. He said Senate Bill 40 allows parents to request further hearings or even sue districts that take what they consider draconian steps.

"I'm very disappointed. The school board did what they mentioned in the meeting before. Obviously, it was predetermined," Ranzau said. "The justification they use to force quarantine is factually incorrect and they know that. I told that to them in the meeting. … They are not required to do that. … They helped out their staff a little bit, but they still stuck it to the kids. They didn't follow the facts."

Ranzau said many parents and students want to get rid of the mask mandate.

"This last year has been a disaster for the kids, and they don't realize how much it's affecting them," he said. "The kids don't want it. The parents don't want it. The teachers don't want it. But they're falling in line with Gov. Kelly and they're going to continue to push that agenda for the rest of the year."

The new rules went into effect immediately.

Balthazor said the issue sparked a lot of attention. He said at no other time during his 13 years on the board has he received more comments from patrons.

"I know that there is an enormous amount of emotions on both sides of this issue," he said.

Gibson said the board received at least 100 emails.

"It's obvious there are two sides to this," he said. "No matter what decision the board made, some people would be happy and some would not, but I think the board did a good job of explaining the rational of why we're making a decision vs. just making a decision."