~by Victoria Riley, GCNO publisher/editor
Greene County students paying attention to the April 21 school board meeting and action taken there can learn some lessons.
First, the students are, indeed, the center of the universe. That message comes from the board’s action ratcheting back a requirement to wear face masks. Board member Catherine Wilson has argued against masks from the outset, and she went to the April 21 meeting primed and ready to prosecute a case against masks.
Her logic was that because Covid-19 case numbers are low, masks are no longer needed. She asked superintendent Tim Christensen for numbers of cases. His answer was a “handful” since the district went to “red” on the mask matrix in February, requiring students and staff to wear masks at all times.
She next asked how many cases there had been since April 6, when the district shifted from red to yellow, requiring masks only when social distancing isn’t possible. Christensen answered there had been none among staff and students, but a case of a parent of a student having Covid. Wilson specified her question only concerned students and staff “because we’re not responsible for the public.”
That remark comes after more than a year of hearing how highly contagious Covid-19 is, how people who don’t even know they have it can infect others, and how dangerous it is for some people.
Wilson is right; the school board isn’t responsible for the public. But, the board is responsible for creating an environment in which students learn of the interconnectedness of all people. They should be learning of social responsibility, and that sometimes we make decisions about our own behavior not based on what’s easiest and most comfortable, but based on what’s best for others, “the common good.”
Wilson’s lesson: It’s OK to do anything you like, even if it endangers others.
Board member Mike Dennhardt understands the role of masks in curtailing the pandemic. He asked Wilson what the current positivity rate is in the county. When she replied that it’s 2 percent he asked, “Why is that?” and then answered his own question… “It’s because masks are working.”
Board president Steve Karber, a respected retired physician, said that what’s most important to the board is keeping students in school, and that requiring students to wear masks when they can’t social distance is the best way to do that. Wilson interrupted him, as she did several times during the board discussion, and interjected that mask wearing isn’t consistent in all district buildings. She inferred that because it wasn’t consistent the better solution was to end masking rather than work toward more compliance.
Greene County public health director Becky Wolf reminded the board that children with mild symptoms can spread Covid-19 to people who become much sicker. “I know everybody is getting tired of the masks, but the masks are working,” she said.
Even a high school senior in attendance at the meeting lobbied to continue at yellow on the matrix. He pointed out how close the end of the school year is getting. “Can’t we just stick it out to the end?” he said. “Something’s been working because I’ve seen less kids go missing…. We’ve got such a short time left. I don’t want to see my senior year get ruined by something crazy like my junior year did.”
Another lesson from Wilson, and board members Steve Fisher and John McConnell, who have argued against masks repeatedly – We all know everything and there’s no need to listen to experts.
We’re lucky to have a physician serving as board president during a pandemic. Who better to lead the board than someone who has knowledge of infectious diseases and how to curb them? Four of five board members aren’t medical experts, but three of them more than once out-voted the one member who is a medical expert on the use of masks.
Students can’t be taught everything, but they can be taught to seek out experts. That’s always a good scheme. If you want to know how to color treat your hair, ask a hairdresser. If you want to know how to fight a virus, ask a doctor.
The irony is that Wilson had her own expert at the meeting who came with his own opinion about masks. Jefferson chiropractor Chad Schwander told the board the best thing for students is not to wear masks. He used information from a study allegedly done by Stanford University that proved that masks were not only ineffective at stopping the transmission of Covid, but they’re harmful to children.
Karber, who has read countless medical journal articles, pointed out that what Schwander presented was a hypothesis, not study results. That didn’t deter Wilson, Fisher and McConnell. Perhaps they missed that vocabulary word in their middle school science classes. And about the chiropractor peddling hypothesis as fact? He doesn’t like his three children wearing masks at school.
Not only was Schwander’s 8-1/2 minute presentation based on a hypothesis, not completed research, but the study had nothing to do with Stanford University. What’s been floating around social media as “the Stanford study” is based on the author’s review of some previous literature. It was first published last November by the journal Medical Hypotheses.
FactCheck.org contacted Stanford University about the article and learned the author, Baruch Vainshelboim, has not been affiliated with Stanford University since a one-year term as a visiting scholar in 2016 on matters unrelated to the paper.
Julie Greicius, a spokesperson for Stanford Health Care and the university’s School of Medicine told FactChecker, “Stanford Medicine strongly supports the use of face masks to control the spread of Covid-19.”
According to FactCheck, two conservative websites – Gateway Pundit and the website of the American Conservative Movement – ran the article. Gateway Pundit is known for spreading misinformation, FactCheck stated.
Wilson, Fisher and McConnell got their way – they won. I hope the Class of 2021 doesn’t end up as losers out of it.
