Joplin School Board votes to make masks largely voluntary

Voluntary: that’s what masks will be in the Joplin School System this fall, following a vote made by the Joplin School Board at a meeting Friday night.

After rejecting a plan submitted by Superintendent Dr. Melinda Moss, the Board gave its approval to a plan that made mask-wearing almost completely voluntary in the R-VIII system.

Following discussion, the Board approved a plan that says masks may be worn at school if students want to wear them but they will not be mandatory.

The new policy says if any members of the student body or the school staff come into contact with someone with COVID-19 and are told they should quarantine, they may stay or return to school immediately if they wear a mask and exhibit no symptoms.

After 10 days, they no longer have to wear a mask. If they produce evidence of a negative COVID test, they can come back to school without a mask after only five days.

“I think we had almost 2,000 kids in summer school and I did not hear of one kid being hospitalized,” said member John Hird. “We look at all the data and whatever and say O.K., fine, but we already have our own understanding of what happened in Joplin. which was no kids were hospitalized after being unmasked all summer long in summer school,” he added.

The final vote was 5 to 1. Those voting in favor of the new plan included Board President Jeff Koch, Derek Gander, John Hird, Rylee Hartwell and Brent Jordan.Dr. Michael Joseph voted no. Sharrock Dermott abstained.

The Joplin School District’s original back-to-school plan was rejected by the school board by a 5-2 majority. Those who voted in favor of the plan were Sharrock Dermott and Dr. Michael Joseph. Voting against were Jeff Koch, John Hird, Derek Gander, Brent Jordan, and Rylee Hartwell.