001board today is thursday april the 22nd it is a special meeting the agenda is before you this is the called order would you please join me in a moment of silence in item 1.02 and then i will lead us in the pledge please stand thank you please join me in the pledge i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for we thank you for your attendance at tonight's meeting and we appreciate that everyone is equipped with the appropriate face coverings please make sure they are worn appropriately covering both the mouth and nose we will move to item 1.04 approval of tonight's agenda is there a motion i move that we approve the agenda for
002tonight's meeting thank you mr eugetti is there a second well a second thank you mr carr is there any discussion seeing no discussion then we will vote on the approval of this evening's agenda all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye those opposed the same motion carries the agenda is approved we move to item two request to speak to the governing board we will play the recorded message and we have about 15 individuals who have expressed an interest in speaking to the board so please play the recorded message the board may make an open call to the public during a public meeting subject to reasonable time place and manner restrictions to allow individuals to address the public body on an issue within the jurisdiction of the public body at the conclusion of the
003open call to the public individual board members may respond to criticism made by those who have addressed the board may ask the staff to review a matter or may ask a matter be to be put on a future agenda however members of the board shall not discuss or take legal action on matters raised during the open call to the public unless the matters are properly noticed for discussion and legal action during the open call the board requests that speakers refrain from voicing complaints against school personnel or any person connected with the district as it may impact due process rights policy k e k e b and ked are provided by the board for disposition of legitimate complaints including those involving individuals forms required for use of these policies can be obtained from the gilbert public
004schools website okay we will move on to our first three speakers this evening we will a lot a minute 30 seconds per speaker the first three are dawn and i believe that's beeson angie draper and robin daughter honorable honorable members of the board thank you for your time you are intelligent and well informed and have surely done your due diligence learning the anti-mass paper from medical hypotheses has affiliation with neither stanford nor the nih and is little more than a list of generally disapproved theories you also know now is not the time to stop requiring masks in schools we are here because governor ducey lied saying his order aligns with cdc guidance it does not you know what the cdc says now is not the time to require to stop requiring masks in school infection
005rates of 6 to 13 year olds now surpass those aged 65 and over continued mask wearing can't hurt removing masks can now is not the time to stop requiring masks in schools critical thinking and public health are integral to not only critical thinking and science education are critical to public health and integral to the gps curriculum you must demonstrate your command of both and with your vote make it clear now is not the time to stop wearing masks in schools thank you thank you good evening last summer we heard a lot about how if teachers don't want to teach in the classroom they should teach in line i have also been heard and told that if parents do not like something they should pull their kids and take them to online so now those roles
006are reversed and those same people are saying if you have a problem with masking schools send your students to global well maybe they should pull their kids and put them in global if they don't want the mask on their children the global option has been there all year it's been massless all year it is not my fault or the district's fault that some of these parents have too many children that they cannot manage them and come in here and lecture you on them it is not my fault if they cannot keep their kids on task and off of video games those are parenting issues those are not your issues my daughter has a compromised immune system her health could be in jeopardy if she is in a class with kids who do not wear masks
007but some of these classes that she's taking as a junior in high school are not offered on global so if you don't want your children in mask move your kids to global you have the option you've had the option all year all i ask is you keep the mass in place for the next 20 some odd days and stop flipping our kids around thank you thank you hi i'm robin daughter i'm a little stunned that we're having this conversation i mean i get it people want to be heard but it's a no-brainer that the health and safety of our students and staff preclude the need for debate in this case most of the public comments support math wearing there's only one responsible choice continue requiring universal and correct use of masks while indoor on campuses
008per cdc guidelines i also implore you to continue mask requirements through summer school to ensure consistent student attendance since one day represents an entire week of curriculum i get that our governor decided to lift the mass mandates for schools however he does so against current cdc guidelines which i've printed out for you the board has repeatedly emphasized that school spread is not a concern because of our medication strategies you focused on teacher vaccination which is great but vaccinating teachers doesn't make masks irrelevant unless you have no regard for the health and safety of our student population and their families most of our students are not yet eligible for the vaccine of those vaccinated in this county only 0.5 percent are minors our students are not protected school exposure risks their health and the health of
009their families new variants have increased the spread amongst children and even mild covenant cases can have lasting effects it's unfair that our state leadership put you in this position but the only responsible choice is to continue the mask mandates thank you next three jacqueline mcclure todd seamer and cara carlson i know this is a polarizing topic and i know that if you spoke to different sides you would get different opinions i'm not going to talk to the numbers that scientists are saying or doctors are saying or the inefficiency of mass i'm going to talk to you guys about our parent bill of rights our bill of rights states that we as parents get to make the final decision for our children we get to have the final say in their upbringing in education health mental
010health and our children's fundamental rights this state is a this board is a political division of our state government therefore by law you guys are required to follow federal state and got federal guidelines which means that you must uphold our parents bill of rights we must have the medical freedom to do what we will with our children based on the existing rights it shows you guys are legally bound we get to decide what we do with our children and you are not allowed to segregate our children with online or district learnings and pull them from their brick and mortar stores due to a medical decision their parents made arizona is a huge personal right state we've done what you've asked our children have done what you've asked we've taught them online we've taught them in
011hybrid now it's our time our kids been masked for six months we know they're not the super spreaders we once stopped hello my name is todd seamer we have two children in gps schools my wife is a physician i'm also in healthcare i was here three weeks ago though so a little over three weeks ago is in this room full of reduce and force affected teachers i'm sure you all remember that meeting well many of you actually called it one of the hardest moments of your time on the board you shared data about the decline in enrollment and how that affected the budget and therefore resulted in reduction in force for gps schools parents spoke with their child's enrollment either opting for home school private or charter schooling several months later you felt the reverberation
012of their voices by having no choice but to let go of teachers because your budget had declined at that meeting you mentioned that there would be a marketing blitz and advertising campaign to bring students back feel free to ask around but i'm not sure you're listening to parents they aren't pulling their kids from gps because they don't know they were open or unaware the district existed many parents have pulled their kids because two reasons one in-person learning wasn't an option or two masks were required i'm not going to go over the science that delivers conflicting information on observational studies about the efficacy of masks on an air slide on air slides virus transmission i'm not going to go over the safety studies of the mental health and developmental delays of long-term mass use in an
013education setting i'm going to share though that putting a medical device on children is not your decision to make your educators not the parents of my children nor their health care providers the ball is in your court now there is no longer an executed order to blame this is your decision thank you good evening board members my name is cara carlson i'm a mother and a disability rights advocate and i'm asking you to make the only safe and science-based decision to keep masks through at least the end of the 20-21 school year my four-year-old attends kinder prep at a gps school we love her teacher she thrives here but we also have a two-year-old daughter she has medical conditions and truly unique genetics that are represented by my shirt when she was approximately 18 months
014old she was hospitalized by rsv that she undoubtedly brought home from daycare with her sister when we first take her took her to the hospital she had o2 stats in the low 70s i don't want my oldest to bring home a virus that could put her younger sister in the hospital or worse because the adults around her can't make the right choice to protect everyone i am also a member of the disability developmental disability advisory council and the statistics we've seen show that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities especially children are by orders of magnitude more likely to be hospitalized or die from covid than their peers we all agree that we love our kids we all agree we want our kids in school we all agree we want our kids to be safe so
015let's show these kids that we love and value all of them let's keep them safe in school let's be consistent and not add another erratic change to what has been already a very erratic 18 months for our community for our students thank you next three speakers jocelyn kozier craig moore and sam flynn it's been a very rough year for gps to say the least we don't have to tell you how far down our enrollment numbers are how sad we were to watch so many of our wonderful teachers get laid off because of it and i don't have to tell you who has been licking their chops this year the charter schools their enrollment has skyrocketed they all have waiting lists upon waiting lists to get in they're in the process of building more schools just
016to accommodate the families that want to leave public education we can argue the pros and cons of charters all day but the one thing it comes down to is parents want choice parents want to decide what's best for their children i have a first grader who's at a charter school he has an amazing teacher and is receiving an incredible education while the rest of the school district was yo-yoing in an out-of-in-person hybrid or online he was sitting in a desk with a teacher live in front of him this school gave each family the choice to send their kids to school or keep them online fast forward to this week when the governor rescinded the mass mandate for schools k-12 this school again immediately gave parents a choice we could send our kids to school with
017a mask or we could choose to let them breathe freely i'm sure you can guess what i chose i chose what was best for my child jill i've heard you say many times don't worry the families will come back to gps guess what they're not going to come back i've realized this myself do you think in any way i would pull my kid out of a situation where i have a voice and i get to make choices to put him back in a situation where my voice has not been heard no way thank you for having me science is ever changing especially with the coronavirus it's important we use the latest science when deciding our children's risks and forcing mass mandates i'd like to read a couple of quotes from the latest study done on
018the effectiveness of these face masks from the national center of biotechnology information which is a sublet of the national institute of health which dr fauci leads a randomized controlled trial of 246 participants there was no difference between wearing and not wearing face mask for coronavirus droplets transmission particles of under five micrometers to put in perspective a micrometer is a thousand times smaller than a millimeter do you really think a piece of fabric is doing anything there are however adverse effects to wearing them both physiologically and psychologically per the study these include hypoxia increased toxicity activation of fear and stress response rise in stress hormones and the decline of cognitive performance anxiety and depression just to name a few my son has personally suffered with more than one of these the school board should not have
019a say in a parent's decision on the health for their child mask choice is needed furthermore arizona statute 36-2271 states all parental rights are reserved to a parent of a minor child without obstruction or interference from the state any political subdivision of the state any governmental entity or any other institution thank you 158 that's the total number of new cases reported today in state of arizona for people under the age of 20. 477 that's the total number of cases of schools and daycares with active cases today in arizona 190. today's total number of hospitalizations due to cover 19 and 22 that's the total number of deaths reported today in the state of arizona due to cover 19. as one of your employed anatomy physiology teachers i employ you to continue the mass mandate in gilbert
020public schools for doug ducey's order he cited the cdc as evidenced with the mass mandate and as of this meeting the current cdc guidelines are not what doug ducey claims but are instead to prioritize universal correct use of masks and physical distancing in a classroom of 30 to 35 students i can barely keep them two feet apart from each other let alone three or six by removing this mass mandate you are removing another barrier to keep my students and myself safe while the majority of teachers are vaccinated not enough studies or evidence have been conducted on their effectiveness against the code variant asu has confirmed these variants are in phoenix and by removing the mass mandate you are inviting these variants into the classroom further jeopardizing the health institute of students and faculty as the
021staff you employ if you waive the mass mandate you are sending a clear message to them that you care more about a vocal minority than your own staff safety and work environment after the fallout of the rifts removing mass minutes will add another variable to an already chaotic school year we have been wearing masks for 150 school days we could do it for 25 more the blowout will be another work to workplace satisfaction it will cost you teachers it's already cost you one me thank you next three speakers are sue frye lindsey stevens and jason st louis thank you dr santa cruz governing board members dr mccor herb mr dr mccord thank you sorry i'm sue fry a longtime employee here in gilbert public schools and i was very proud of this board when you
022led the east valley way back in august to develop a mitigation plan to keep as many stakeholders safe as possible we have given choice interesting that that word has come up so often and yet gilbert public schools offered plenty of choices we offered an online choice we offered it in person choice when health issues arose we developed a hybrid choice people made those choices based on that mitigation plan we have 26 days left stick with the plan and the plan keeps as many people safe as possible and everyone in those places made their choices based on that plan whether they're in person whether they're online they knew what the ground rules were going in don't change them now people will have to make new choices based on new circumstances and with 26 days left and
023high stakes events like end of the year celebrations and graduations that we want to have in person thank you hello and good evening governing board i'm lindsey stevens a senior at highland high school and i represent a great majority of our concerns for removing the mask mandate in gps schools i was lucky enough to reserve my spot and i actually received my second dose of the vaccine yesterday however many many students who want the vaccine have not been able to get it yet this is why we please ask gps to give students and families the rest of the school year just a little bit more time 26 days to receive vaccinations um yeah we only have a bit three to four me weeks more school the final stretch and with impending travelers um due to
024graduations come the risk of spreading the virus to loved ones we know human life is the most precious thing we don't want to lose any more people from this horrible virus it is just a piece of fabric be strong be brave and thank you for your time thank you good evening i just want to make sure that if it does go to remote that students that are in person right now will have that not remote i'm sorry if the mask is rescinded the students that are in school right now will have the option to to go remote that they'll be able to transition from in person back to remote the last three weeks if that's the way this is going to go that being said it took me months and months to get my son
025to go back to school in person to the point i'd given up finally before spring break he came to me and said he was ready to go back to school he felt safe with the numbers low and knowing his classmates and staff would be wearing masks it's been a godsend he is finally getting that in-person social interaction and it's crushing me to hear him tell me if the mass policy goes away he wants to stay home i lost my train of thought yeah that he wants to stay home he's telling you he won't feel safe at school for math for for those that don't want to wear masks if the policy is kept as is for the last few weeks their kids will still go to school the next day for kids like mine and
026other families that are concerned about the ramifications of no longer requiring mass their kids are gonna they're gonna stay home start the new school year with no mask if it seems safe and appropriate vaccinations by then will be more likely available i've seen what happens at my gym when smash becomes strongly recommended nobody wears them i just want my kid to spend his last few weeks at school thank you our last two speakers are matthew oscarwick and amy peterson thank you for the board for letting me speak um i am i have a son who goes here to in gilbert i'm also a member of the american public health association and i'm also a member of the society of epidemiological research i have kept my silence the past few months as i've watched the board
027continue to make decisions to curry favor with a minority of gilbert student's parents sticking to the science regarding kovit again ignoring your duty as elected officials to make the hard calls when the overall safety and welfare of the whole supersedes their own apparent want to be uncomfortable not to be inconvenienced not to have to sacrifice but to call a special board meeting to discuss the need to modify or rescind face mask wearing requirement there's nothing to indicate a need to do such the centers of disease control still indicated in its guidance just updated march 9 2021 the continued importance of the correct use of face masks and the prevention of the spread of disease just because governor ducey's misguided revocation of the mask mandated for schools not based on any valid scientific principles or fact
028doesn't mean that the board should jump on the same runaway political bandwagon continued vigilance is the only sure way to make sure that all students teachers and faculty at gilbert public schools remain safe we should not allow battle fatigue or the misguided decisions of misinformed elected officials to allow us to think we have won the war we have made be done with the virus but thank you hi my name is amy peterson i'm a gilbert native i'm a graduate from gps and i am here tonight because i love gps and i love gilbert um the decisions that have been made this past year have been literal mana from heaven for the chart for the charter schools and for some of our neighboring districts i'm here today because i would love to see us retain gilbert
029at gps we have seen a loss of enrollment which means a loss of revenue which means a cutting of costs we have seen 152 teachers laid off that is going to continue to happen as we lose enrollment that will continue it's a basic business principle so i'm here tonight because i believe your decision is much more than to make a decision about mass to mandate them or to lift them tonight your decision is going to be a i'm sorry i'm losing my train of thought it's it's much more than keeping masks for the next six weeks of school this decision is one that is being closely watched by those whose trust and confidence is in gps hangs by a thread your decision tonight will be a very telling statement to our community as to what
030they can expect moving forward because the dangling carrot just isn't cutting it anymore i can promise you that this decision will weigh heavily on those trying to decide what to do with their children for the school year next year and i agree that it is only 26 days but you can't we can't just keep bumping out the goal post and how many i would love to know are sitting in this room with masks six feet apart fully vaccinated when does it end honestly when does it end thank you thank you [Applause] that was our last speaker we'll move to item three item 3.01 is discussion impossible action to modify or rescind face mask wearing requirements dr mccord do you have anything by way of introduction just excuse me i'm sorry just that um as everyone
031knows the executive order 51 20 51 was rescinded with the executive order 2021-10 and in that is where uh governor ducey removes the mass mandate we're we're here having a conversation tonight because it is also in our regulations uh the mass mandate but also in our mitigation strategies so we felt it was pertinent to have a conversation to be able to make decisions moving forward so okay so the special meeting is a result of what is already in our policy that we need to work with that is correct board members item 3.01 is in front of you uh we're ready to entertain a motion all of us have been given an opportunity to look at five possible prototypes and we'll leave it open at that dr santa cruz i would like to make a motion
032for discussion because i think before we actually put emotion on the table i think it would be appropriate to discuss this none of us have had any conversations with each other so um if people are open to discussing their thoughts and then maybe we can come to to some agreement okay board members there is a motion on table for discussion is there a second could you please clarify that again i just would like to give us an opportunity to um weigh in and give our thoughts so that maybe we can come to some agreement rather than trying to make a motion and then seeing which motion would pass i i think it would maybe be helpful that we could work towards consensus if possible um you know that's always my goal but um i just
033thought it might be easier if we discussed it first and then um maybe we could that would work better so your motion is that we have a motion to discuss yes okay i'll second that okay it's removed and seconded that there is a motion for discussion uh is there any comment i i can start if if there's so do we need to vote we'll need to vote on whether or not we'll accept that motion otherwise we have five prototypes in front of us and we'll move down the list or select one i i think that's well i understand it well i guess i guess we could vote i again i think it would be helpful to have a discussion a lot of times when we have something that we're working on we will go through
034a work study process and weigh in there we'll have other opportunities to weigh in um this was literally dropped in our laps on monday afternoon so we have not had a chance to go through our usual process um and i guess we would need to vote before we discussed but um that's my those are my thoughts the other option board members would be simply to put one of the motions on the table discuss that and get all of the commentary and mutations of comments out and vote on that and either vote it up or down and then move to another motion if that's the case so uh what's your pleasure although i seconded the motion i'm not sure with robert rules of order and hopefully somebody knows more about that than me that i don't
035i'm not sure what the motion i mean i i understand what you're saying yes and at the same time there's not really a motion there other than we just discuss and i i'll defer to my other colleagues i would just like to make i would i would think you would want to put a motion on that's kind of how we've operated over time and then discuss that and if there's amendments or someone wants to change that that motion then that can definitely happen again i think that's how we've been operating well we have done it both ways i've i've done it both ways we'll answer the board but i will withdraw my motion and i will put this motion on the table option number two the governing board hereby directs or authorize the district superintendent
036or his or her delegates to update face covering regulation related to the district's coven 19 mitigation plan as follows in adherence with cdc and adhs guidelines the current face covering requirement shall remain in place until may 28 2021. board members there's a motion on the table is there a second i would be glad to second it if we could add something to it mrs humphries well i i do um have some amendments that i can offer but if you'd like to offer another i would like to add something that was similar to what chandler did and i don't have the exact wording which is which which was i don't know dr mccord do you have that or they said may 28th depending upon let me i'm sorry you sent it to us today no chandler
037that that that it was until may 28 2021 depending on yes it was uh depending on the numbers yeah the numbers they didn't specify any numbers okay they left it very open so i could add this additional wording which is one of the options i put in the superintendent may bring to the board a recommendation if transmission rates climb significantly okay what was that last word if they climbed away if they climb significantly i did not i have another one where um it i actually mentioned the metrics and a certain place on metrics but is that is that a motion in a second then and then we can open it up for discussion i didn't second it i just asked if we could okay if my question is is that a second that you wish
038to accept i will ex i will accept the second if that's part of it okay all right so now we have a motion and you are open for discussion and to augment and shift any way you desire with that motion on the table so to clarify at this point the motion is as read on option number two has read on option number two with the addition of the superintendent may bring to the board a recommendation if transmission rates climb significantly which means we would have to come and meet again and have another discussion don't we cases don't we do that anyways haven't we done that every time this has happened anyways i don't i would prefer not to have that in there because we already have done that as you know may i weigh in
039changes every time something changes we meet again about this yeah i i i think we've used those words in the past and i think they've they've gotten us upside down and i would be it's we would need to define them by numbers in my opinion just because significant to me might be significant to 40 other people in this room and so so we'd have to be a little more specific sorry dr mccord mr carr i'll all withdraw my second until we can and then we don't have a motion to discuss the if if you withdraw your second then um that motion fails and we'll have to or do you just withdraw your second on the amendment and you still want to second the original motion i'm not willing to second that emotion okay not emotion
040motion i'm sorry than that although this is really emotional well then i'll put out a motion i guess go ahead just to clarify the second was withdrawn and the motion it sounds like yes well if i don't have a second then the motion dies motion dies for lack of a second so we are open for another motion unless we second that as it's written yes that that is correct if someone else wants to second it then it could go forward if you want a second and then have discussion you could always amend it moving forward [Music] if if someone else wants to i'm looking here i'm i'm trying to make my decision here i i will move based on option number three the governing board here by directs and not authorizes the district superintendent and
041or his or did his her his in this case unless something's changed delegates to update face covering regulations relate to the district's covet 19 mitigation plans as follows in adherence with cdc and adh guidelines face covering shall be recommended and encouraged whenever individuals are on gps property furthermore face covering shall be worn whenever required by federal state or local law or by membership requirements for related associations okay you have a motion is there a second a second it's been moved and seconded is there any discussion dr sanchez if i can clarify go right ahead going back to our meeting on july 28 of last year we directed the superintendent put in place a policy consistent with the executive order and actually put an expiration date on that of june 30th so at this point based
042on that motion last year our current policy should expire june 30th because that direction expires now that's not to say that this board couldn't act on its own but right now we've got a motion in front of us but i just want to clarify that in my opinion and and based on the discussion that took place at that meeting the policy expires june 30th um the the thought process here as i go back and look um you know i i personally have i personally try to stay consistent with things that are at least attempt to stay consistent with things that i've said and in this case i face a dilemma because i have advocated that we stay true to the guidelines i've also advocated that we stay true to the executive order and several of
043us have stated from this diocese that the reason we have a face mask policy is because of the executive order that being rescinded and i would highlight some people say why doesn't why didn't you act immediately we couldn't let's just clarify that uh when the when the policy was put in place it was five days after the previous executive order for those who are concerned about us not acting quickly we're actually meeting two and a half days after it was rescinded so we've met and had this discussion in both cases relatively quickly following open meeting laws so the question to me personally as i deal with this is how do i stay true to both statements and and i can't find a way to do that other than to say that that we continue to
044recommend uh and and encourage um that guideline i also spent considerable amount of time going through the public comments as i'm sure each of us did but i tallied the public comments [Music] removing duplicate individuals because i didn't figure people got i think there was one individual who expressed themselves seven times um between the comments and the emails and when i tallied those comments it was literally 50 50. it was 50.3 and 49.7 the people are commenting are evenly split so there's not consensus i know that we talk to people who are like-minded and that that tends to make us think that that everyone thinks the way we do but it's there's division in the community we're not going to please everybody i recognize that so then i went to the the state numbers um
045and i picked a few dates and i'll tell you why i picked them i started in march of 2020 because at that point we were on spring break and we determined because of the concern of a possible outbreak to not return to school so i felt like that was a pertinent date to compare to where we are i then looked at july of because that was the last time when we had a discussion that we approved a mitigation plan and i'll remind you that we approved to follow metrics not knowing what the metrics were those metrics have changed since they were issued in august at least four times by by the way the state communicates them four times that i could track and then i looked at the peak numbers for each of the following
046metrics so if i just look at the positivity rate i'll just use a couple of examples but we could go through several in march 2020 the positivity rate that according to the arizona department of health service services website was 9.1 percent today it's 4.2 or 4.2 at its peak it was 24.4 in other words when we quit meeting when we quit school at spring break of 2020 it has the rate is 53.8 percent lower today than it was then when we look at our discussion in last july it was at 10 we've fallen 58 percent if i look at the peak we fall in 82.8 percent you know if i look at the real purpose behind all the mitigation strategies as communicated originally and repeatedly even though the public message has perhaps changed was to
047enable our health care system to react to this we knew that people were going to get it could we enable the health care system to react so as i looked at hospitalization um hospitalization in march 2020 there it was 311 during that week the current week it's 235. if i look at last july when we voted on this mitigation plan it was 1293 that peak it was 3679 in the week in the peak week again comparing to those three dates since march 2020 we followed we've fallen 24.4 percent looking at the peak we fall in 93.6 percent looking at our discussion last july we've fallen 81.8 percent death rates have similar falls the point of our mitigation strategy was to do exactly this to make it so that our health care system could handle the
048crisis based on the health care numbers today on the both the county numbers and the state numbers our hospitalization rates are the lowest they've been going back to march 2020 we're under that we have less hospitalization than we did in march 2020 when this wasn't there were no face masks there were no crisis it was a preventative measure if i look at deaths they didn't have march numbers uh for a whole week so i picked the early april numbers as close as i could we had 97 deaths this year we had 65 deaths at the peak we had 1067. so compared to the peak we've decreased ninety four percent ninety three point nine percent we've we've done exactly what our intention is so my question is now that we have vaccinations if we haven't if
049we had these same kind of achievements in a classroom and we said wow we improved by 94 in a semester's time period that's the peak we'd be celebrating so what is our assessment what is our evaluation criteria for saying success and when do we move forward i that that's the problem with the metrics nobody has told us when it ends and the few times that they had it they had oh three green metrics and it moves but they've changed how they measure those metrics they've eliminated one of them they changed and no longer say oh there's not a master and there isn't a mask they keep changing it so none of us know when we end um and i guess i just i i look at it and say at some time we have to
050celebrate the success and move forward and i'm i'm concerned i know that kova is real my father died from covet in december i recognize it's real um but at some point if if our criteria is zero chance of getting it then we're still wearing masks from the 1918 flu pandemic so it can't be zero what is it we've got to have an alternative it can't just be when the numbers go up or the numbers go down we've got to have some criteria so that's my basis i believe that we've hit hit the objective of what we did um and and i'm ready to move forward and so thus i could say more but i've spoken too long already so thus i put out my my proposed uh motion thank you mr carr ma just to
051weigh in my confusion is that uh while what you have said and and what you have articulated is is right on target we still have information that keeps being reported daily that young people now school age young people are susceptible to the virus more than thought before even though those numbers are not large and that the uk variant is something that we have not experienced yet in its full bloom so that's a concern for me i'm also concerned that a little confused not concerned you mentioned the date in june if your motion is accepted and approved then what we're doing in terms of face coverings and mitigation strategies expires in june or am i no no my reference to the june expiration was our previous motion made last july last july we put an expiration
052on that policy for june 30 at the end of the school year right and and in your mind does that still exist absolutely it was discussed and three of us commented on that during that discussion so i think it was well understood so if i interpret that then that would lead me to conclude that the mitigation strategies we have in place at this point would expire in june and therefore there is no need to have this discussion well if if we if we want to just let them expire in june that that would be accurate um let me ask a question because my understanding of number five is the change is that face coverings will be recommended and encouraged um that would change the way our our masking is now because right now we are
053requiring masks is it your intention to move it so that masks are encouraged and recommended but not required i i believe that that's the motion that i that i read i just want to understand clearly uh you said number three well number three still encourages them uh the the difference between number three number five is it puts it out at the future date sorry i was looking at the wrong option like so number five frankly would be similar to what mesa did today okay i'm sorry i i numbered them by presence so i was looking at the wrong number so um just one moment any additional discussion yes yes with all due respect mr carr i could never even come close to spouting the numbers that you do and i know i i i know
054what you do and i know that you absolutely have done the research and all of that on everything that you're said tonight in all in all sincerity to you however um we are still in a pandemic we are still dealing with issues that we don't you know yes we've gone down yes we've gone up yes we you know everything you said i think is correct but the bottom line on it is is that this cdc is still saying that no matter how many people are vaccinated that they're still recommending that we get that we keep the masking and even people that are fully vaccinated need to still be very careful and so you know i i think two or three people said there was 25 or 26 more days of school left and i know
055there's a number of students that have come back with the with the understanding that we were going to have the mitigation strategies in place i don't understand why we can't make masks for 25 more days i mean that to me is an absolute you know it's we can do that and then we can look at whatever happens after may 31st or may whatever and i feel very strongly about that and i and you know i respect all of the things that you just said but you know we can do this we can do the things that we need to do for all the children and i mean i can tell you right now i don't like wearing a mask you know i don't like it at all but i do it because i want to
056be safe and i want the people that i am around to be safe um dr sanchez i would like to make my my apologies that i had been confused about which one was your motion my concern is and i and i looked at what mesa did today i think that's confusing and um i i appreciate your statistics and information but just when i hear what you're talking about i don't want to bed in the hospital i want people to be safe from the virus and i just want to read a statement from the maricopa county department of health for services that they put out and it says maricopa county department of public health has released guidance for schools to prevent transmission of covid19 this guidance is in alignment with cdc recommendations one of the essential
057elements to reduce transmission of sars covid ii in schools is the universal and correct use of masks per cdc ncd ph encourages all schools to require consistent and correct use of well-fitting face masks with proper filtration by all students teachers and staff to prevent transmission of coven 19. further i did go look at the cdc at cdc.gov i didn't copy the whole thing but it says when you wear a mask you protect others as well as yourself masks work work best when everyone wears one and i i think we've made it this far it's only a few more weeks i personally i understand that it's really hard it's been a long long year my concern is that we're this close to the finish line let's not let's not mess it up we have ap tests
058coming we have graduation coming i think we all want to get to that point at the end of the year where we can have an in-person graduation even if it's socially distanced and people are masked that at least two people can come and watch that senior walk across the stage i think that's really important to our entire community wherever you stand on wearing a mask or not wearing a mask i did want to point out that i did look at the historical data today too um uh although the the um maricopa county health hasn't put this number up yet um the number that was up for today was 67.58 cases per hundred thousand but looking at the historical data um you know it's a a week or two in lag time so there was one
059more um i think it ends the 15th of april which is 84.73 cases per hundred thousand if there has been a jump from 67 to 84 i find that concerning i would rather be careful that we end the school year well and that we end it safely than risk and outbreak and i'll i'll just say when i was reading the emails i um i read lots of reasons you know people gave reasons why to keep a mask or why not to keep a mask and i wrote some of those down if i can find the right page sorry i took notes from a conference as well so um here it is so the reasons not to wear a mask parental choice heat rash claustrophobia and a manacer preschool those were some of the reasons not
060to wear a mask here were some of the reasons people gave for keeping the mask mandate work to keep covet and other illnesses down no one under 16 can get vaccinated yet graduation ap and end of year tests masks are normal now you know kids have been wearing them all year it's not a huge change to just keep wearing them district liable of an outbreak because of not following cdc guidelines children not comfortable attending school the only safe way to sing in choir is with the mask on also we've had fewer cases of flu colds and strap this year because people have worn their masks so um i would really like to see us adopt a motion where we at least get through the end of the school year with the mass mandate in place
061and not make that optional additional commentary ms wood yes please thank you i think all of us have made huge sacrifices i don't know that anybody recognizes the other person's sacrifice that has been in place this year and it's i've appreciated everybody's sacrifice i'm amazed and thankful as a community that we've done all that we've done um as we've tried in the beginning and what i thought we were trying to do was to flatten the curve that's what they told us that's what we've been trying to do we have done that and i appreciate everybody's work on that and i especially appreciate our teachers and the staff for everything they've done each day to come to school and to to find creative ways to teach our children and then to come amongst all the concerns
062that they've had to be there for our kids to be constant i really really appreciate you very much i appreciate our principals and administrators for their dedicated efforts this has been a difficult year and you've worked hard i'm thankful to our families and students for diligence and flexibility that we've all been able to have the education that we've had and it's been a community effort and i'm grateful i think i continue to ask yes they keep saying let's look at the science let's look at the cdci lines and i'm saying how in the world do those apply to arizona where we've had vaccinations the way that we have i need to start seeing some adjustments with vaccinations or those those are to me incomplete so again that's one of the things i'm looking at i'm
063looking at the state i'm looking at the cdc guidelines constantly i'm looking at the state numbers the county numbers our school numbers and those are all things that are important to me i'm i'm also wondering and i also want to make the point that yes it is an ask to continue to ask masks it is an ask it's not without a cost to many people it's been really hard maybe it hasn't for some people it's been worth the sacrifice so they've been okay with that and i'm glad for others it has been an ask it has been stressful on children i know both ways but i'm just saying don't act like it's not an ask for 27 more days it is it is we're asking so please acknowledge that don't don't just say we've done
064it for this long it's that easy and there's no cost there is a cost so and we got a lot of emails about that and you mentioned some of the some of the reasons so i just wanted to bring that up as well i i think if not now when the governor when we agreed to what we've agreed to by a governor's executive executive order and now that is changed and released if not now then when um i am not willing to go past this school year in any shape or form with the mitigation strategies unless there's a huge change and then we would come back and do what we do which is already known by everybody that we do that but i would i don't want to see this at all past the end
065of the school year at the latest to i would prefer sooner miss wood by end of the school year are you including summer school in that no i'm saying may 28th and i think people one of the things that people have said is they didn't have a chance to make a choice um for the next couple weeks but summer school if we knew right now that summer school would be similar to what chandler's doing without mass in place similar to what mesa is doing so much what queen creek's done without masking place then people could make a decision both teachers and students for summer school that they could go online if they needed to or come in person knowing that that would be the expectation that's my those are some of my thoughts thank you
066miss wood anyone else seeing none you have a motion in front of you it is ostensibly motion number three and then i'm sorry it's motion number five isn't it it's number three number three number one number three read recommended and encouraged okay are the by words in there go ahead mr carter you you've read it you're clear okay so and it would be immediately yes i understand his motion okay okay that's right i'm sorry i had to get on the right page so are we ready to vote if we're ready to vote your option obviously is to vote for or vote against and so we have motion on the table mr carr has moved and it's been seconded miss wood was a second yes this wood was the second we've had discussion can i before
067we spoke can i just ask one question to clarify sure so with this motion people could wear a mask if they wished but it will not be required exactly except for at events where it is for example aia is still requiring them uh okay choir con or choir festivals might require i mean whatever associations if there's another governing association that requires them we would adhere to that all right i just want to make sure i understand correctly before i vote okay we want to understand the motion okay we will vote all those in favor of the motion as you understand it and as it's been stated please signify by saying aye aye those opposed nay motion fails three two is there an additional motion well i i can put my uh motion option two back
068on the table as written and i'll read it again so that everyone can understand which one i'm putting forward the governing board here by directs or authorize the district superintendent or his delegates to update face covering regulation related to the district's coven 19 mitigation plan as follows in adherence with cdc and adhes guidelines the current face covering requirements shall remain in place until may twenty eighth twenty twenty one is there a second no second to that motion oh second thank you miss wood there's a second is there additional discussion well i i guess i would have a question um go ahead if if there is something that we can do to make this motion more acceptable to others i'm happy to entertain that um someone's hungry just just if i can clarify this is leaving
069our existing policy in place through the end of the school year yes so for the public i believe we all understand this our current policy does not require masks if people are outside that's right children who go out to research you're at recess if you're at pe if you are in passing periods and outside um you you if you're in the parking lot uh that that's our current policy and that continues that so i'm not sure about the passing period yes i don't think i think passing is not that's that's not what we've told the high schools if they're outside now remember two of our high schools are basically inside anyway highland is almost entirely inside gilbert is essentially with with a few exceptions inside understood passing periods if the passing is outside is outdoors
070correct if they're outdoors i think it more reads that they're on gps property okay and if they're in physical activity then they can remove their mass so recess pe those types of things now do kids take them off in passing periods when they're outside or pull them down i guarantee you that they do well and and that's consistent with the cdc and adhs which says that they should have breaks right it is i mean it specifically says that in those in the guidelines that they should have breaks if if we don't let them take them off outside in passing periods then unless they're in a pe class there is no chance for a break yeah you're correct there is no severe enforcement if they are outdoors additional comments questions concerns if you wanted to explicitly
071add that then you know just so there's no question about it i would recommend that well and i'm not sure we need to because you have the authority to amend that regulation if if that's what's understood any additional comment miss wood yes i guess i just also wanted to bring up that we had many comments from students who would leave if the masks were were take if the mask was changed and there's no mask we had many comments from many students who would leave if the masks aren't changed and aren't taken off so at this point it's it is difficult to try and balance and understand i meet needs and i we want to i want our students here i want our teachers here i want our teachers and students here in the best way
072that we can and there's just completely different feelings of what is acceptable at this point for each person and and it's been that way for the whole year and so i'm trying to be respectful of that as well but i wanted to mention that both ways so with this one there will be fallout just as there would from whatever so i think it's really really this is what i feel is unfortunate it is that whether he intended to or not the governor making that change has divided our community again we're all here trying to figure out what the best thing is and and i understand it's it's hard on both sides i mean i i do understand that having to wear a mask is an ask i just feel like those who have children who
073are whose health may be more at risk if they if they got covered i i just hope we could all be understanding and be a good neighbor and do the best we can to get through the end of this without any more division and be understanding and so that's why i'm asking for the mass until the end of school because we do have children in our schools who are at a higher risk and i understand that it's hard for everyone but i just want to be very mindful of those who who um are dealing with additional challenges yes can i point out that the one positive aspect of that particular motion that has just been presented to you is an end date so and that was a compromise on my part just one other concern
074as well as we talk about an end date or talk about we've only talked about the effects of covet on children and families for a whole year there are other things that we used to talk about that are still there that we need to talk about that we've just not been able to focus on because this has been the only thing there are many other challenges and issues and i know we know this i just am bringing this up again to remind us there's other things that we're going to need to and we need to start addressing as well and covet is one of them but there's other things as well so that's also in my mind thank you miss woodson no question that this pandemic has been all-consuming any additional questions mister i i
075have a question for dr mccord um if we do the end date of may 31st may 28th excuse me 28th um do we have options for for children who for summer school that would want to do it online yeah we do have secondary summer school online uh jason are we having elementary online i don't believe some but not so so there's limited so so there's an opportunity for our students who may not want not feel comfortable going back to in person after may 28th correct that they would be still able to get summer school classes again that is more more more robust at the secondary level not as much the elementary but there are some options but it's probably more important for robust at the secondary level am i right on that yeah yeah credit
076wise definitely right okay a couple questions if i may um first of all i do appreciate that that this motion clarifies the expiration uh as i said the previous motion that's currently in place that this would essentially update did have an expiration but i think we had all lost sight of that because it's been so long but this puts it out there clearly um it does send a message about our intent for fall and i and again it's an intent look obviously if if we're surprised and i don't believe the numbers will go here and the numbers go off the roof we're going to see health directives and executive orders and we can't guarantee anything but the intent of this board for fall is to not require masks i think that message is sent a
077couple of questions um evit has rescinded their mask policy they're now completely optional and i bring up eva specifically because we partner with them if kids are going to and from evit do they ride our buses do they ride evit buses they ride our buses so on our buses they would still be required because to wear the mask because it's gps property correct and then when they get to evit they would be able to remove their mask okay i would i would highlight that in a sense our mask policy has been perhaps in writing the most liberal if you will in the east valley in the fact that none of the other east valleys districts up until this week have had exceptions for even outdoors i i would agree with that that that's my understanding
078from talking with multiple board members and i believe you've conveyed that to me from your conversations with superintendents um that that would be changing a little bit we wouldn't be the strictest and we wouldn't be the most liberal either as for these last for this last month if assuming this motion passes um last question we've stated that outdoors with space you don't have to wear a mask but in the conversation we talked about graduation and requiring masks are we not spacing the kids on the football field are they not six feet apart students will be spaced out it'll be difficult to space people out to that degree in the stands so so will students being spaced out be allowed to remove their masks during graduation well currently no that was not the intent okay well
079and that's what i'm asking because the policy as we've clarified tonight would say would indicate yes because they're outside and they're spaced well and i i think when they're going up and they're getting their diplomas they they tend to bunch up a little bit and then they're walking through the line so our intent was to make sure that they were messed up the entire time and i think and i'm asking this so that it's clear because it's it's go this question is is going to come up given the earlier conversation and i think in fairness at one work study session where we discussed the springtime awards and options and celebrations that would be coming up that there were committees at each of those schools who were organizing and setting the conditions and the protocols for
080each of those and i don't think their protocols would be necessarily superseded by what we do here tonight and i think we need to clarify that yes this action coming after that conversation would imply that if we're not clarifying that i agree do do we need to add that to the motion i don't think so i just think it needs to be in in the directions from the schools to the families and the students you know that we just want him to be sweating sweating it out out there huh yeah yes it wouldn't be graduation if sweat wasn't involved well and i think that's one of my greatest concerns with this whole thing is that i want us to be able to have a graduation this year more than anything and i don't want to
081do anything to jeopardize that and i think just to clarify that if this motion is approved that those special recognition ceremonies that would occur the spring will have their own separate and distinct protocols for their operation on that evening is that everyone's understanding it's mine it is clear now so that is in the minutes any additional discussion okay seeing none then we will vote you are looking ostensibly at option number two uh with adherence with cdc and adhs guidelines that current face covering requirements shall remain in place until may 28 2021. all those in favor of that motion please signify by saying aye aye all those opposed the same motion carries i believe five zero so option two of the motion is that the governing board hereby directs and or authorizes the district superintendent and
082his or her delegates to update face covering regulations and all of the necessary call letters related to the district's covet 19 mitigation plan as follows in adherence to cdc and adhs guidelines the current face covering requirements shall remain in place until may 28 2021 that is the motion that has been passed this evening we will is there any additional business related to this topic if not we will move to item 4 which is adjournment item 4.01 is there a motion so moved thank you mrs humphries is there a second all second thank you mr carr it's been moved and seconded is there any discussion saying none we will vote all those in favor of adjournment please signify by saying aye aye those oppose the same thank you for your attendance this evening thank you board
083members thank you those of you on live stream we are adjourned