UPDATE: St. Peter board makes masks optional at high school
Sep. 21—ST. PETER — Students and staff are no longer required to wear masks at St. Peter High School.
The St. Peter School Board voted Monday to change its masking policy that had required masks in all district buildings.
Masks are still required at the elementaries and middle school. Masks are now recommended but not required at the high school.
Board member Tracy Stuewe initially made a motion to make masks optional for all grade levels. That failed on a 2-4 vote.
Board member Tim Lokensgard then motioned to change the high school mask requirement to a recommendation. That motion passed on a 4-2 vote. Stuewe, Lokensgard, Vickie Hager and Jon Carlson supported the change. Ben Leonard and Drew Dixon were opposed.
The shift happened after one universal masking supporter resigned from the board and another swung to the other side. Carlson voted "yes" to universal masking last month, then "yes" to making it optional at the high school. His second vote came after he said he always looks for a middle ground.
Hager said the choice should be left up to the parents.
"Parents know what's best for their kids," she said.
Stuewe noted everyone at the high school has had the opportunity to get vaccinated.
Lokensgard noted other area districts aren't mandating masks at at least the high school level "and their (coronavirus case) numbers aren't astronomical."
"I didn't get on this board to mandate things," he said.
Dixon countered that the district has not met the criteria it set last month for reconsidering a universal mask mandate: that community transmission rates drop to low or moderate levels and cases within schools are five or fewer.
"We have not met the requirements that we put out for ourselves to make a change or even to revisit the policy," he said.
There have been 34 COVID-19 cases reported among district students and staff since the start of the school year, according to data presented by Supt. Bill Gronseth. There were 23 active cases and another 37 people on quarantine as of Monday. Seven of those cases and six of the quarantines were at the high school.
District administration recommended the district continue with universal masking.
"We really feel it would be in our best interest to continue with our current practices until we see a lower rate of transmission within the community," Gronseth said.
The board vote came after nearly 90 minutes of public comments.
Dawn Selly was among the speakers seeking to lift the mask mandate. She said one of her three children has asthma and transferred to Cleveland Public School, where masks are not required, because he has a hard time breathing while wearing a mask.
"Masks need to be parents' choice and kids need to be able to breathe without having a restriction over their mouth," she said.
Senior Eva Kracht was among the speakers who supported continuing with masks at the high school.
"Last year I witnessed what was taken away from the seniors and I do not want that to happen to my classmates," she said. "Our freedom is not being taken away by having to wear masks. In fact it's just the opposite. Wearing a mask gives us the freedom to make high school as normal as possible for our students."
