HOULTON, Maine — Face coverings will remain mandatory for all students and staff at RSU 29 for the foreseeable future.
A movement by a trio of RSU 29 school board members to reverse the district’s mask mandate failed to garner enough support Monday evening after more than an hour of discussion on the sensitive subject.
Board members Sara Deveau, Christopher Cain and Tammy Goetsch were unsuccessful in their attempts to sway fellow board members to act against the recommendations of the district’s administration and to make face coverings optional for students and staff.
It marks the third straight monthly board meeting dominated by COVID-19 conversations by the school board, staff and members of the general public.
“What I am hearing tonight is a lot of ‘I have a fear’ and ‘it could possibly,’” said board member Sara Deveau. “We don’t have evidence that masks are the only factor making a difference. One of the things that really stands out to me is the impact on young children. [Masks] are impacting their learning.
“I in good conscience have to speak what my truth is,” she continued. “Look at the data. Kids are not at risk of dying of COVID. What is the line for when we are going to stop jumping through hoops?”
David Carpenter of Littleton, who is employed by the school district as a custodian, once again spoke to the board asking that masks be removed for his children — and others who chose to do so.
“I don’t want to see my kids wearing masks for the rest of their lives,” he said.
Samantha Nadeau, a freshman at Houlton Middle-High School, gave a passionate presentation to the board asking for the students’ voices to be heard on the subject.
“We (the students) should be able to have a say in our school,” she said. “Students are struggling. It is not OK. We need to make it optional.”
Only two local school districts — SAD 70 (Hodgdon) and RSU 89 (Katahdin) — have an optional mask policy for students and staff.Every other school in Aroostook County currently has a mandatory mask policy in place.
“There is no question that there is nobody in our district, or the state of Maine, that likes wearing masks or wants to wear masks,” board chairman Fred Grant said. “However, the charge this board put before our administration was how do we keep our schools open, our children safe and in school as much as possible?”
RSU 29 Superintendent Richard Lyons said his stance on masking has not changed since the district decided to make face coverings mandatory. Lyons used the analogy that fighting COVID-19 was akin to three legs on a stool, with those legs being face masks, pool testing and social distancing. Without one of those legs, the stool would fall, he said.
“I believe we have a formula that is working,” Lyons said. “We have clear evidence that we have no transmission of COVID in a school setting. If we do away with one of those legs, I am fearful we will do away with the formula that has been working.”
Holly Hodgkin, the district’s school nurse, said that Houlton Elementary School is still designated as an outbreak school, meaning there have been three unrelated cases of COVID-19 within a 14-day period. If face coverings were optional, entire classrooms would be in quarantine at HES rather than just a few close contact students.
“Although we have not had a lot of cases, we have had enough to keep [the outbreak designation],” she said.
Lyons also strongly encouraged the faculty and staff at Houlton Elementary School to become vaccinated. Only 68 percent of the elementary school’s staff is vaccinated, compared to 97 percent at Houlton Middle-High School.
The district could also experience other potential impacts if they switched to an optional mask policy. Hodgkins said the district runs the risk of losing it’s extracurricular activities, such as the school musical or sports, if an outbreak occurred.
Jon Solomon, the district’s athletic director, said if RSU 29 switched to an optional mask policy it could have a negative impact on winter sports.
“Our teams travel to schools in Penobscot and Washington counties,” Solomon said. “We might have some schools pull out and not want to play us (if masks were optional).”
Principal Tim Tweedie added that based on meetings with Aroostook County principals, many county schools have no intention of playing schools that do not have universal mask mandates.
The superintendent added discussions were regularly held with the district’s administration leaders, who were all in unanimous agreement to keep masks mandatory.
“We will continue this conversation on a monthly basis,” Lyons said. “I would love to see the month come where we can unequivocally say we feel comfortable doing away with masks. I do not have that opinion right now.”
Board members Christopher Cain, Deveau and Tammy Goetsch voted in favor of removing the mask mandate. Board members Erica Peabody, Scott White, Jennifer Johnston, Stephanie Lively, Sue McLaughlin, Jeanie Tapley, Ellen Askren and Grant opposed the motion.
