The Sioux City Community School District discussed reinstating a mask mandate for all Sioux City school buildings and activities at its Monday evening meeting.
Board members showed strong support for doing so. Board Vice President Monique Scarlett moved to reimplement a mask mandate and board member Taylor Goodvin seconded it immediately.
However, in order to allow time for public comments, the board decided to save the official motion for a special meeting on Wednesday where it will officially move on whether to put a mask mandate back in place.
“If we saw an obvious threat involving the safety of our students and staff, we would be remiss if we didn’t correct that threat,” Scarlett said. “The COVID-19 virus, with all of its variants, is a safety hazard the world hasn’t seen since 1918.”
Goodvin said he was upset the “party of local control, a party I’m a registered member of” would take away local school districts’ ability to put public health measures in place. He also cited the rising numbers of children contracting and spreading COVID-19.
Prior to that, two parents called for a reimplementation of the mask mandates, citing the need to protect children after more than a year of staying home and missing the benefits of in-person learning.
The discussion came only a few hours after Federal District Court Judge Robert Pratt issued a temporary restraining order on the mask mandate ban passed by Gov. Kim Reynolds and Republican legislators in May.
The ruling means the ban is temporarily removed and schools are once again able to put mask mandates in place.
by Nikoel Hytrek
9/13/21