ELY – A recommendation to relax the COVID-19 protective face mask mandate in Ely’s schools to an option-only protocol could be considered by the ISD 696 school board as soon as next week.
The ISD 696 Ely Safe Learning Plan Advisory Council (ELSPAC) held a special meeting this week that resulted in the recommendation.
School board members will likely consider the proposed revision as early as Monday, Feb. 28, if a special meeting is held before or after their monthly study session. The face mask mandate could be lifted by March 1.
In calling for the emergency ELSPAC meeting, Interim Superintendent John Klarich told the Timberjay last Friday, “I want to talk about voluntary masking. When we had our board meeting on Monday (Feb. 14), had I known that Virginia (Rock Ridge school district) and Cloquet schools were going to go to voluntary masking, that would have switched me. I think it’s time to move on. I’ve been doing further study and the numbers are dropping. There is a big movement now.”
On Tuesday, ELSPAC members gathered to review the current COVID-19 data in the Ely area and to voice their opinions on changing the ISD 696 Safe Learning Plan.
Klarich talked about the numerous schools in northern Minnesota that are moving toward an optional face mask protocol or are considering such a move.
“I have been receiving all kinds of information, both pro and con, for masking and have been able to sort through that,” he said. “I think it is time that we bring this to a head. I have a masking recommendation with some changes I want to run by everyone on this advisory committee.”
Megan Anderson, Ely school 6-12 principal, reviewed the most recent area coronavirus data.
“Looking at the case rate for the last four weeks, for Jan. 27 we were at 885.1 cases, on Feb. 3 it was at 579.8 cases, down to 418.75 last week, and at 483 .17 this week,” she said. “We are (mostly) seeing a decline across the board and across the country.”
According to Aubrie Hoover, of St. Louis County Department of Health, confirmed cases in the county are at 970 this past week. Hospitalizations are at 91. Ten deaths were reported.
“There is no doubt that the trend is going down,” Klarich said. “We are one of the last schools with the masking policy in place. I think it is time that our school board gets a chance to vote on that.”
ISD 696 Athletic Director and parent Tom Coombe repeated his pleas to rescind the face mask mandate.
“It is no secret how I feel about this. I sent an email last week requesting that we expedite this group meeting again and meet sooner rather than later. I think we have reached a point now that we can agree to move forward in (a mask optional) direction,” he said.
Amy Kromer, a substitute school nurse and parent, asked what changed to prompt the sudden change in the school’s face masking policy.
“The numbers have significantly gone down, however, we are nowhere near what our goal is to get to masks recommended,” she said. “We are still way beyond where we were when we were in distance learning last year. I’m wondering what the rush is, being that the medical professionals in this community have not recommended this change.”
Kromer noted that the point was recently made that places in the community such as grocery stores, bars and restaurants, are not requiring masks.
“Those places you are not required to go to, and when you do go there, it is for limited periods of time. We are a community in itself at the school. We are there every day. Kids and staff have to be there for five days a week, seven-plus hours a day. There is a difference,” she said. “I want to get rid of the masks as much as anyone else, I just don’t know what the rush is.”
Klarich stressed that the school board will ultimately make the decision to change the school district’s safe learning plan.
“I’m lucky that we have a solid school board that has been getting regular information on this. I personally feel that it is time to open up, and that’s my opinion. The numbers are coming down significantly,” he said. ”Sooner or later we have to make a decision. Things are changing.”
Any changes to the learning plan will not apply to school busing, as that is federally mandated.
“We have no control over that,” he said. “We are already opened up for athletics. I think it is time that we are opened up 24/7.”
As of Monday, there were three active coronavirus cases in the Ely school community, according to Anderson, with 220 total cases reported so far for the school year. There were 48 total COVID-19 cases in the school community in the 2020-21 school year.