Thatcher and Pima students return to school in masks

Raymundo Frasquillo File Photo/Gila Herald: A young girl secures her mask with loops over her ears.

By Jon Johnson

jonjohnsonnews@gmail.com

Thatcher and Pima – For students in the Thatcher and Pima School Districts (and charter school Discovery Plus Academy in Pima), Monday marked the return to in-person instruction with mitigation efforts to help reduce the spread of COVID-19.

One of those mitigation efforts is the wearing of masks by all faculty, students, and visitors. That mitigation measure has brought forth questions and concerns. Some concerns include students having trouble learning from a teacher who has their face covered, safety if unknown masked people were to infiltrate school campuses, and health of having to wear a mask for an extended period of time.  

During the Pima School Board meeting Thursday, Aug. 13, board member Shawn Wright asked what would happen if a student showed up without a mask. Pima Superintendent Sean Rickert advised that it would be a violation of the school’s dress code and be given a mask to wear or be sent home. If a student has a medical reason for not being able to wear a mask, the parent and student will work with the principal to develop a plan so the school can make appropriate accommodations to make sure the student can still “access” an education.   

Rickert advised that kindergarten through second-grade teachers could wear face shields when physically distant from others and that students who could physically distance six feet while outside would not have to wear a mask.

Parent Jen Bigler spoke during a “Call to the Public” portion of the board meeting and expressed her concern for having to have her children wear a mask. She asked if parents could sign a waiver to withdraw their children from having to wear a mask.

“I think there’s equal proof on whether the masks are effective or not effective,” Bigler said.

Bigler said she believed that wearing the masks would also compromise the wearer’s immune system by not being able to be exposed by bacteria and when masks are eventually taken off those people will have a greater chance of catching some sort of illness.

“I think that as parents we should be given the right to decide whether our students – our own children – should be able to wear masks or not,” she said. “I don’t think that should be made mandatory. It is against the Constitutional rights.” (sic)

High school English and world history teacher Jeff Skiba – who is also a respiratory therapist – informed the board of two weeks he spent in Mission, Texas during the summer where COVID-19 has ravaged the area. He said during his time there, due to the limited amount of ventilators, they had to decide who was going to live and who was going to die by taking patients off ventilators to give to other patients.

Jon Johnson Photo/Gila Herald: Pima High School English and world history instructor Jeff Skiba speaks about his time assisting those with COVID-19 in Texas this summer and the importance of wearing a mask.

“The first day I watched somebody die – my first two hours,” Skiba said.

He told the board that one reason the area was hit so hard was that the populace was not wearing masks.

“I’m here to tell you my support of masks and social distancing,” Skiba said. “Because masks alone – they’re not going to do it. But if we combine that with social distancing – we combine that with the guidelines – we can be safe and we can keep our schools open . . . If we want our schools to remain open, if we want our children to remain safe and our staff to remain safe, we must follow the guidelines because I don’t ever want to see what I saw in Mission, Texas happen here.”

Skiba said masks help reduce how far droplets from a person’s mouth extend and that they protect others from a person exposing them.

“I watched a 37-year-old die and I stood in that room going, ‘this guy is in good shape’ – he was in better shape than I was – and I watched him drown with no water around,” Skiba said. “I don’t want to die that way. It scared the life out of me. I was very much against masks until I saw what I saw. If wearing a mask will prevent somebody from getting that and dying like that, I am happy to wear a mask.”

Additionally, according to the Graham County Department of Health and Human Services, if a student tested positive for COVID-19 but had been wearing a mask as required, then only that student would have to be quarantined, but if the student hadn’t been wearing a mask, the entire class would have to be quarantined.

While the teachers present at the meeting all agreed they do not like having to wear a mask, they all equivocally supported doing so if that was what is required to return to in-person instruction. Some teachers expressed difficulty with speaking at length with a mask on and how some students may not be able to learn as well without seeing their faces.  

Board member J.J. Alder asked if teachers are six-feet away from students while teaching at the front of the classroom, could they not simply just wear a clear face shield, so they could be more comfortable and students could see their faces.

Rickert said he would look into that possibility and get back to the board at a later date.