Belleville preK-8 district to vote on requiring students to wear face masks in school
Whiteside District 115 in Belleville is planning to require students to wear face coverings when they return to its elementary and middle schools, according to a draft of its proposed safety rules for the 2021-22 academic year.
The District 115 school board will discuss and vote on the plan at a special meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday. The meeting will include a public hearing for parents to share their thoughts on the rules before board members vote.
Whiteside notes that a plan for the next school year will be subject to changes in response to changes with the coronavirus.
Whiteside Superintendent Mark Heuring said the district made the decision to plan on requiring masks based in part on feedback from about 300 parents who responded to a district survey and on local coronavirus statistics.
Heuring said the district’s goal with universal masking is to keep students in the classroom, because even those who might come into contact with an infected classmate in the fall would not have to quarantine at home if they were both wearing a mask and stayed at least 3 feet apart under the latest federal guidance.
“That’s our job: to try to keep students in school as long as possible,” he said.
Most parents of young Whiteside students want masks
According to the district, a parent survey on masks from mid-July found that:
- 56% of elementary school parents who responded said they believed all students should be required to wear a mask inside; 37% believed masks should not be required; and 7% had no opinion.
- 35% of middle school parents who responded said they believed all students should be required to wear a mask inside; 29% believed masks should not be required; 21% believed masks should be required for unvaccinated students and optional for vaccinated students; and 15% had no opinion.
Most of the district’s students are not eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine because they are younger than 12 years old.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not reviewed data from clinical trials of children under 12 to determine whether the vaccine is safe for them to take like it has for adolescents and adults.
Whiteside District 115 had 1,285 students in pre-K through eighth grade at its elementary and middle schools in 2020, according to information from the Illinois State Board of Education. Based on those statistics, just 23% of the student population would be able to get vaccinated.
Some metro-east parents have been attending local school board meetings to push districts to let families send their children to school without a mask if they want to. Among their concerns are that masks compromised learning and mental health last year.
Whiteside’s plan for the fall highlights for parents that it will have school counselors and social workers available for any students who are experiencing stress related to COVID-19.
Belleville sees recent increase in COVID cases
Heuring said the most recent update on COVID-19 from St. Clair County officials showed an increase in cases in the ZIP code where Whiteside families live.
The 62221 ZIP code had 58 new COVID-19 diagnoses between July 22 and July 28, for a total of 3,154 infections there since the pandemic began. It has the third-highest case total of the ZIP codes in St. Clair County; those areas are also among the most populated in the county.
- 62269 (O’Fallon, Shiloh): 3,707
- 62226 (Belleville, Swansea, Shiloh): 3,642
- 62221 (Belleville, Shiloh): 3,154
Heuring said district officials think the universal masking that was mandated last year helped Whiteside avoid spreading the virus in classrooms.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is allowing local school boards to make decisions about any mandates this year based on factors like student vaccination rates and community infection rates.
But the CDC recommends everyone in schools wear masks.
