Geneva D-304 Supt. spurns students’ report of improper mask wearing as ‘second-hand information’

Students tell school board of their unease at lack of enforcement of proper mask-wearing over the nose

GENEVA – Two Geneva High School students told the District 304 school board that their fellow students did not wear masks properly – and the superintendent dismissed their concerns as “second-hand information.”

The students, Grace Snider and Kacie Orozco, both addressed the school board at the Monday meeting, before the high school closed Thursday and Friday while students were sent home to do remote learning on Thursday and Friday due to the high number of students in quarantine due to COVID exposure.

“From personal experience, those crowded hallways where kids are practically shoulder-to-shoulder in some places – this has given me immense anxiety for my safety and for others,” Orozco said.

Snider said during the hybrid schedule, with half the student body in school at a time, many students did not wear their masks properly – that is, over their noses as well as their mouths. When they started back five days a week in-person on April 5, the number of students in the building doubled as did the number not wearing masks properly.

“Every day, I would hear from my friends (about) their safety concerns over the lack of proper mask enforcement,” Snider said. “No one was correcting students when they weren’t correctly wearing their masks. And they were afraid to say something themselves for fear (of) the student being upset at them.”

Snider also criticized the district for reopening school with the CDC guideline of a 3-foot distance.

“There isn’t enough space for students to safely learn,” Snider said. “Even though the CDC says 3 feet is safe, we shouldn’t go to the bare minimum. Students deserve to be safe at school. If doing so would be a problem, then it was not time to move back to a five-day schedule in the first place.”

Board member Leslie Juby said said the district needs to do better with enforcing proper mask-wearing at the high school.

“I’m just going to make a comment on that: We need to do better,” Juby said. “I’m not asking if we’re doing it, I’m saying we need to do better.”

“And I’ll come back with a comment,” Mutchler said. “Principal (Tom) Rogers and I talk about that all the time. He talks about that to his staff. And he’s out in the halls, as are deans. I felt like some of that (the students’ comments) was second-hand information.”

“We need to do better,” Juby said.

“Always,” Mutchler said. “Our students need to do better.”

“Yes, our students do need to do better,” Juby said. “There’s no excuse for it.”

Board member Larry Cabeen said he talked to high school teachers less than four hours before the meeting and asked about mask-wearing.

“They said that they felt the students were doing quite well at wearing their masks effectively and as often as practical as possible,” Cabeen said.

“That is what I hear, Larry,” Mutchler said. “I’m glad you made that point and that is what I see when I go into the buildings. People can say – and I don’t care if everybody is wearing their mask all the time – we can always do better. We can always do better at it. I get that. But that is certainly the messages that i have received and that i have seen.”