Lexington-Richland 5 drops mask requirement in schools as employees threaten lawsuit
A Midlands school district will scale back its mask mandate in school, even as board members were warned district employees are planning a lawsuit over efforts to drop the mask requirement.
Starting Tuesday, students and staff in districts are “strongly encouraged,” but not required, to wear masks at school, a move that is in line with guidance from the S.C. Department of Education.
The new policy passed 5-2, with board chair Jan Hammond and board member Ed White voting against.
School board members in the Chapin-Irmo area discussed the issue for the first time Monday after initially repealing its mask policy outright last week, then reversing course two days later after consulting with an attorney.
Lexington-Richland 5’s decision last week to pause the repeal of its mask policy comes after 100 school employees threatened to sue, attorney Andrea White said Monday.
Andrea White told board members that under state law, the district’s legal immunity is based on it following applicable guidelines. If a judge decides they are not following them, the district could be subject to legal action, and would have to make any payments for attorneys out of its own general fund.
The day after last week’s vote, White said she was contacted by an attorney for 100 Lexington-Richland 5 employees who were planning a lawsuit that would ask a judge to block the board’s action and keep the mask requirement in place.
White advised the district to pause the mask repeal on Monday until she could brief board members at the board meeting that day.
Under the policy adopted Monday, students would still be required to wear masks on school buses, which are owned and operated by the Education Department. Visitors to schools will also be required to wear masks on campus.
The district will not tolerate harassment by any student, staff member or visitor of anyone who does or does not wear a mask, the policy says.
Ed White said the district should adhere more closely to state guidelines while encouraging teachers to allow students to remove masks in classrooms. Hammond said as chairwoman, she felt an obligation to avoid the danger of a lawsuit.
Ultimately whether the district’s policy complies with the state guidelines would be up to a judge and jury if a lawsuit goes forward, Andrea White said.
Previous mask decision
Monday should have been the first day students were not required to wear masks in class at Lexington-Richland 5 schools. In a special called meeting of the school board last Tuesday, board members voted 4-2 to rescind the district’s mask requirement, leaving it up to parents to decide whether they wanted their children to wear masks.
But after consulting with an attorney, the district announced two days later that its mask policy would remain in line with requirements issued by the S.C. Department of Education.
State guidelines require students and staff in public schools to wear a mask when entering a school building, moving through hallways, during pickup and drop off, while boarding, riding and exiting buses, and when social distancing is not possible.
Students may only remove their face coverings when directed to by a teacher or administrator while in the classroom or during special activities outside the classroom, according to the policy posted on the state education department’s website.
Some parents have denounced the mask requirements as burdensome, saying they hinder students’ ability to learn and interact with each other. Some who spoke at last Tuesday’s meeting said their children were being psychologically affected by constant masking. Others said they had refused to wear masks since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some criticized the district administration for backtracking on the intent of last week’s vote without another meeting of the school board. One said the board was being “dictated to by non-elected officials.”
CDC advises mask wearing
But other parents and teachers warned that the danger of the coronavirus spreading is still real, and that many still are not vaccinated against the disease.
At last week’s meeting, Superintendent Christina Melton said she might have to reopen the district’s online learning program for new enrollments if enough parents asked to switch because of the dropped mask policy, potentially disrupting the final weeks of the 2020-21 school year.
National and global health experts say masks are one of the main tools for stopping the spread of the coronavirus. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say even those who are fully vaccinated should still wear them in large crowds and where social distancing isn’t possible. People who aren’t fully vaccinated are advised to wear masks indoors and in crowds outdoors.
The school district’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic has been a lightning rod for much of the school year. Some parents early on pushed for a quick return to in-person learning, and in December the school board had to scale back its reopening plan after student protests and an apparent walkout by teachers over the policy forced three high schools to close.
Two teachers on Monday told the board they would be leaving their positions at the end of the school year because, as one said, “Your actions and words have worn teachers down.”
This story was originally published May 10, 2021 at 11:08 PM with the headline "Lexington-Richland 5 drops mask requirement in schools as employees threaten lawsuit."
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