Mask mandate in Decorah Schools starts next Monday

Starting Monday, September 27th, there will be a universal mask mandate for preschool through 6th grade students in the Decorah Community School District. After 90 minutes of discussion and several failed motions on Monday night, the Decorah School Board voted 4-1 in favor of the mandate for its younger students until four weeks after a COVID vaccine is widely available in the community for children ages 5-11. The public discussion and vote took place after a closed session in which the board heard from their legal counsel from Ahlers Law Firm in Des Moines regarding Decorah's specific liabilities with regard to the recent federal lawsuit that recently overturned Governor Reynold's mask mandate and in which Decorah was named as a defendant. "We did not seek this out," said school board president Ron Fadness, telling the 150 attendees that the school district was named not by their choice in the federal lawsuit, but rather because a family in the district was one of the plaintiffs. But now, "we've got a bullseye on our head, and if we don't do something to satisfy the federal judge, we are open to litigation that the federal judge has said we're not going to win." Citing Brown v. Board of Education (the 1954 Supreme Court case), Fadness reminded the board that a governor and legislature cannot overturn a federal court order. Beyond the legal ramifications, board members cited the Center for Disease Control's guidelines, which advocate for universal masking for all students this school year. Board members Brian Peterson and John Hjelle were interested in having the district purchase clear masks for teachers and/or students, in order to address concerns heard last night and through email about the inability to see facial expressions and lip movements behind a mask. The recent reports of Pfizer's COVID vaccine for children ages 5-11 was a hopeful one for many of the directors. Fadness said he hoped a mask mandate with an end date four weeks after the Pfizer vaccine is readily available in the area would help the district know they had done their part to keep students healthy. "It would be good to know we have done everything we can do to protect kids until protection becomes available to them," he said. Krista Vanden Brink was the only director who voted against this mandate. When asked why, she noted that the CDC says universal masking should be in effect for all students, pre-K through 12th grade. "That's the only reason I voted no," she said.