Plano School District Board of Education delays decision on masks until Aug. 2

The Plano School District 88 Board of Education agreed Monday evening, July 19, to hold a special meeting next month to decide whether the district’s students will be required to wear masks for the coming school year.

After Superintendent Tony Baker announced he and other district administrators did not feel ready to make a recommendation concerning the use of masks during the board’s July 19 meeting, the board voted unanimously to hold a special meeting at 6 p.m., Aug. 2, in the Plano High School auditorium to further consider the issue.

“We all want to return to normal,” Baker said. “I think I speak for every one of these board members, I’ve had individual conversations with - we all want to return to normal. We do have to do it in a safe manner.

“The scenario related to masks that I just can’t grasp yet, is the scenario that even though a kid might come to school without a mask, and the parents are confident that the child is not in a mask, if we’re still guided by IDPH to quarantine a student that is in close contact with a positive case, those are frustrating calls for our staff, those are frustrating calls for working parents, those are the challenges that go on behind the scenes.”

Baker told the board that he and the PSD 88 administration “don’t feel strongly enough” that the district has enough information to put forward a recommendation to the board on masks.

The board also voted during its July 19 meeting to delete the district’s previous policy regarding face coverings, something Baker called a “first step” in the district’s process.

Baker told the board and the audience that he had attended a meeting earlier in the day with the Kendall County Health Department, and confirmed that quarantining and contact tracing, “have not changed.”

As additional information was expected in the coming days from KCHD, Baker questioned if it was “prudent” for the board to vote on a mask policy at Monday’s meeting.

“We certainly value the opinions that you bring...we don’t want it to come down to splitting a community or dividing a population by a consensus or a popular vote,” Baker told the crowd. “That’s not what it’s about. It’s about making sure the kids are safe and that we keep them in school.

“I want to bring, along with our administrative team, a more educated recommendation than the short period of time that we’ve had over the last week.”

Before the Aug. 2 meeting, Baker confirmed he will reconvene a transition committee that previously provided guidance and input to the district’s administration throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The committee is comprised of parents, staff, teachers and other community members.

Also during Monday evening’s meeting, the board heard testimony from residents in support of masks and from residents opposed to students wearing masks.

Information provided by district also confirmed that students will return to fully in-person instruction this fall, with morning preschool from 8:15 a.m. until 10:45 a.m., afternoon preschool from 11:45 a.m. until 2:15 p.m., and full day PK-1 learning at P.H. Miller from 7:40 a.m. until 2:15 p.m.

Students will be in school from 8:30 a.m. until 3:10 p.m. at Centennial, at Emily G. Johns from 8:30 a.m. until 3:10 p.m., at Plano Middle School from 7:40 a.m. until 2:45 p.m., and from 7:40 a.m. until 2:32 p.m. at Plano High School.

The board also confirmed that the district does not have a policy or mandate in place requiring students and staff to disclose their COVID-19 vaccination status.