SEE MASKS

Superintendent Corey Wise broached the policy and its backlash in his superintendent report at the session.

“I hear and I understand and I can empathize with multiple viewpoints,” he said.

Offi cers at the meeting radioed for people standing outside when their name was called for public comment and ushered one person to the hearing room for each person who left. More than 100 people had signed up to speak.

Inside, those who got a seat stood up when they heard public comment they agreed with. They used jazz hands, spirit fi ngers, jumped and cheered. When they dissented, they also stood, and faced the back of the room.

Sometimes attendees, most of whom voiced vehement opposition to school mask-wearing requirements, laughed at the few remote speakers who favored masking. Some in the crowd shook their heads and rolled their eyes.

Board President David Ray repeatedly asked for decorum during the evening’s three hours of public comment. He changed his stance on allowing attendees to stand, at fi rst saying it was a good nonverbal way of expressing views but later questioning if it was emboldening outbursts. Those, he said, could intimidate people with different views from speaking.

Late in the evening, the meeting halted abruptly as audience

A woman holds a sign as part of protests urging Douglas County Schools to rescind a mask mandate.

PHOTO BY JESSICA GIBBS

members heckled Director Krista Holtzmann, who said she wanted to fact-check public comment regarding COVID-19.

Following Ray’s command, directors briskly walked out of the room, causing confusion. Several security offi cers worked to clear the upset crowd, which took a few minutes as people asked whether the meeting was over and if they’d be let back in.

Security reopened doors after a couple minutes and roughly 10 people fi ltered back into the meeting, which extended late into the night.

By the night’s end, Director Elizabeth Hanson announced she was resigning as board secretary, although not as a director. Comments sent to the board email about COVID-19 are often harsh, starkly polarized and fl ow in by the hundreds. For her mental and emotional health, she would not do it any longer, Hanson said.

Most condemn mask mandates

The overwhelming majority of speakers during the Aug. 24 meeting urged the district to rescind its mask mandate for young students. They asked board members to change the district’s policy stating that its schools are bound to follow state and local health agencies.

The Tri-County Health Department, whose jurisdiction includes Douglas County as well as Adams and Arapahoe counties, issued a mask mandate that went into effect Aug. 23 requiring masks indoors among students at schools and daycares, ages 2 through 11. Staff who work with those children were included in the order. That was the rule in effect at the time of the Aug. 24 school board meeting.

Then, on Aug. 30, Tri-County extended its mask order to include all individuals ages 2 in school settings age 2 and older.

At the Aug. 24 school board meeting, Wise said the district’s policy is to work with state and local health agency guidance in the management of common communicable diseases. That requires the Douglas County district to follow the public health order, he said.

Wise said in the fi rst few days of school a low percentage of students were voluntarily masking, but between 80% and 90% were as of Aug. 23 and 24.

Some parents accused the district of hiding behind public health offi cials. Mask mandates are an infringement on freedoms and the district has no place telling parents how to make personal health decisions, some speakers said.

District parent Hayley Benson said she was a triathlete and participant of the Pikes Peak Marathon. She said she knows fi rsthand the “highly detrimental effects of shortness of breath and operating at a lower oxygen level.” Daily mask mandates affect children’s breathing ability, she said.

“How can we expect our children to learn effectively when they have lower than usual oxygen levels?” she said.

Speakers criticized what they described as double standards — that Denver Broncos games and concert arenas fi ll with unmasked people, while age groups at less risk for COVID-19 are forced to mask.

Some told board members to provide peer-reviewed and randomized studies that show a mask mandate for children will be effective at containing the virus’s spread. Many argued that masks don’t work or are harmful for young children.

One woman asked if a majority

SEE MASKS, P13

CORRECTION

In a story in the Aug. 25 edition of this newspaper, with the headline “COVID cases rise; doctors frustrated with unvaccinated,” the name of Dr. Eric Lung was misspelled. Also, Children’s Hospital Colorado was misidentifi ed.

CORRECTION

In a story in the Aug. 19 issue of the Lone Tree Voice, with the headline “Lone Tree approves more apartments near Lincoln Station,” the name of the Lincoln Station Apartments development project was misstated.