Richland students return to class Friday with masks on — for now
Richland students returned to class on Friday wearing masks.
The school board voted 4-1 Thursday night to make masks optional starting March 21. That’s the same day that Gov. Jay Inslee said he would lift the mask mandate statewide inside most buildings.
He made the announcement earlier in the afternoon before the Richland board held its second emergency closed-door session in two days with its lawyer.
After the 2-hour executive session, they opened the meeting to the public and voted to change the resolution they approved 3-2 on Tuesday.
The Tuesday decision was to immediately make masks optional inside schools.
Richland schools have been closed for two days after that split vote to defy the Washington state mask requirement.
On Thursday, some of the board members said during their virtual meeting they were advised that they had two choices, either to push all classes back online or to reopen schools in-person requiring masks.
“The whole intent was allowing mask choice and that is what I still want for kids,” said board member Audra Byrd. “We were given a hard choice. Put between a rock and a hard place, all we could do is either have schools on Zoom or have it in masks for a short period.”
“This is an impossible situation that we’ve faced with tonight, and one that I’ve spent countless hours thinking through” said board member Kari Williams. “I will say what I said on Tuesday again, I’ve been the only board member during the COVID-19 crisis that has consistently fought to keep our kids in school and to give our families choice.”
A half hour after the board voted to modify their resolution to follow the state’s March 21 date, the district tweeted that schools would reopen on Friday.
Earlier in the day, Superintendent Shelley Redinger explained in a letter to the public her decision to close schools this week.
She said district administrators needed to work through the tricky legal and operational issues around the board’s vote on Tuesday.
The state “mask mandate has the force of law and cannot be disregarded by any school district in the state. As a result, bringing children and staff back to schools, while knowingly violating the current mask mandate, would be unlawful, jeopardize district funding and insurance coverage and would be asking all RSD staff members to potentially risk their jobs,” she wrote.
“While it might seem like a quick and easy change, there are a lot of moving parts to consider,” Redinger said in her letter. “Also, we need time to properly inform all stakeholders of significant changes in operational direction so that everyone is on the same page.”
Board member Semi Bird was the only vote opposing changing Tuesday’ resolution. He said he just wanted compassion for everyone regardless of their vote.
The two other board members, Jill Oldson and Rick Jansons, who had opposed the decision Tuesday, said Thursday they did not want their fellow board members targeted.
“At least some people took my words to be viewed as inciting negative actions against fellow board members,” Jansons said. “I want to apologize to those board members.”
Jansons said he tries hard to work to build unity.
State’s reaction
What isn’t clear is how state officials will react to the board’s revised resolution.
The state superintendent’s office sent a notice on Wednesday telling the board to rescind the motion within 15 days or face another warning that could lead to the district losing funding.
Katy Payne, the executive director of communications for the state superintendent’s office, said they would need to see Richland’s new resolution in order to say for sure.
At his news conference Thursday, the governor said he hoped that school districts would continue to follow the law, and the results of the state’s actions have led to a lower number of COVID-related deaths per capita compared to other areas not taking the same precautions.
This story was originally published February 17, 2022 at 8:42 PM.