OSWEGO – During a special board of education meeting on Monday, Dr. Mathis Calvin III unveiled the full return to school plan the district proposed.
While the plan was laid out, it will be further developed throughout the week after hearing from more stakeholders with the board needing to approve the final plan at next Tuesday’s meeting.
The plan was highlighted by “guiding principles” that include ensuring a safe learning and working environment, access to technology and social-emotional wellness. Prior to discussing the plan when the floor was open to the public, many voiced their displeasure with the mask requirements even though the district received guidance from Oswego County Department of Health officials, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as the district’s medical director.
At this time, the plan reads that masks are required inside for all students, staff and visitors, while they can be removed outside.
Of the 10 speakers, six were adamant against the use of masks in schools. The first to talk was Bob Kester, who said he works as an engineer at the nuclear plant. He argued that the U.S. as a whole did too much in terms of lockdowns and other COVID-19 preventive measures.
“It’s just so entrained in me to deal with defining problems, probability [and] consequence, that is risk. We deal with it everyday, but with the nuclear industry, obviously it’s way more intense and regulated,” Kester said. “The way we handled this pandemic from day one, the level of lockdowns, the masks, the whole concept of mandatory [vaccinations] … It just goes against the grain of everything that is logical in me.”
He added that he has never worried about his health during the pandemic.
Two other speakers said they pulled their children out of Oswego City School District due to the masking requirements, one of which was set to go to Kindergarten this year.
Another man, Joshua Dean was not happy with the mask policy as he said he believes it could hinder the self-confidence and education of children.
“I’ve been wearing this mask for 12 months. Now we are going to make it mandatory for our children to wear a mask. How is that effective? It is not. You are ruining our children’s confidence. You are ruining our children’s chance to learn properly,” Dean said. “I watched my high school son who was a freshman last year sit down and be very confused about what was going on with his grades, and he had a hard time trying to connect with his teachers.”
One of the final speakers, Victoria Willoughby, said that participating in mask mandates was part of a “slave humiliation ritual,” and parents should look into starting a school of their own.
“They are trying to convince you that you need them,” Willoughby said. “Find teachers that don’t agree, start your own school. Opt out. These people who pretend they have power, the power is yours, take it. I did. My son is well [after leaving the district]. He will not be damaged by any of this.”
After the public had the floor, Vice President Tom Ciappa reiterated that there is no vaccination mandate for COVID-19 from the school district, as that was another point of concern for those speaking.
During the Superintendent’s Report, when the board was made aware of the full plan, the board was asked to bring any concerns forward after each point of consideration. None of the board members who were present opposed requiring masks indoors. Sean Ohnmacht, who was not present for the meeting, had his prepared statement read by Ciappa.
“I agree that we need to be in-person five days a week. I also agree that a virtual option should only be offered to those who have medical conditions that prevent them from attending in-person. Additionally, I feel students should be unmasked like Central Square and Baldwinsville, the largest two districts closest to Oswego. I realize neighboring districts such as Fulton, Phoenix and Auburn are choosing to be masked,” Ohnmacht wrote. “Lastly, my stance on the mask could easily change in the four weeks leading up to the school year if COVID spikes in the district increase.”
Ciappa added that Central Square originally made masks optional but have since changed their policy to require them. This is because the county went to the “high transmission level,” per the CDC’s definition.
The Superintendent’s Report was the only item on the agenda Monday, as the board will meet again next Tuesday, August 24 to finalize the reopening plan among other items.
Agenda items and documents from the meeting can be found here. The full meeting can be viewed in the video link provided above.
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Republican opposition to masks is deeply irrational … it’s frightening that we have such people working at nuclear plants. One individual human being says he was never personally worried about his personal health. Great. What a wonderfully irrelevant anecdotal assertion. Public health is the issue. Public. Not individual. Public. Republicans have trouble thinking beyond the individual … hence the state of our country. [And the absolute callousness toward the kids when we have a Delta variant presently hospitalizing more children with Covid than at any point during the pandemic is absolutely staggering. The Republican position seems to be that capitalism is so super important (as it kills the environment) that we should pack our schools no matter how many children die just so we can all keep working to fund Jeff Bezos’ trips to space. Republicans really really really need to change their Fox News-drenched minds and join the human species.]
These people commenting at the City of Oswego’s Board meeting don’t have children in the school district first of all and they are a group of individuals that goes from one school districts board meeting to another spewing their cult like beliefs one taxpayers to buy into their non vaccinated and COVID osn’t real crap! My cousin died from COVID but according to a self proclaimed scientic that showed up COVID isn’t really! These people need to stay in their own community and not go to other community board meeting where you dont pay taxes and you dont even have children in our district!
Citizen, did any of the speakers speak of their political preference? I did not hear anyone. Did anyone speak of their preferred News Network or about capitalism? How many children have been hospitalized within the Oswego City School District, Citizen? Please tell us what your research has shown, I am sure all the parents would be interested in the evidence. How many children have died in Oswego County from Covid-19 or Delta or even the Lambda, Citizen? Delta, obviously you have heard the word, can you explain what it is and how a virus performs? Do you understand how tiny a virus is and that no mask other than the N95 could possibly protect any individual of any age. Surely not a cloth mask, but I am sure you discovered that in your research. Maybe that is why you did not speak of it. You wrote against capitalism, so I assuming you never bought a car or purchased food, sunglasses or clothing because as we know they were made from corporations through capitalism. Even our health system has profited through capitalism. Big Pharma loves capitalism! But, not you, right? “You will own nothing and you will be happy,” quoted from the World Economic Forum. Anyway, the speakers at the meeting were concerned parents that spoke against mask mandates. That was the issue of the night, not capitalism, not Jeff Bezo, not Republicans…because, those were irrelevant anecdotal assertion.
Bob Kester seems to think his nuclear engineering degree & experience gives him some kind of high-level insight into Covid that highly-trained & experienced epidemiologists and virologists have somehow missed or been deluded about.
I’m left to wonder why he’s even speaking at this meeting since he had no school aged children or grandchildren. He’s “got no skin in the game” so to speak.
Aged Citizen … your assumptions are incorrect and require no comment.
We all know the type of American citizen showing up to School Board meetings spewing anti-mask lunacy during a deadly pandemic which has already killed hundreds of American children and more than 600,000 American citizens. These are so-called conservatives. Where do American conservatives get their “information”? Fox News and other propaganda organs of corporate capitalism. I apologize if you are unable to think and make connections.
Your thoughts on the usefulness of masks in protecting human beings against the virus are unconvincing. The Oswego County Health Department, the CDC, the New York State Department of Education, and the American Association of Pediatrics disagrees with you.
The Delta variant is on the rise in Oswego County. We are now in the Red Zone … a location with one of the highest transmission rates in the country. Less than 15% of eligible children have been vaccinated … and 0% of children under 12 have been vaccinated. Opposition to mask mandates is a pro-death position. There is no rational reason for any human being to oppose mask mandates during a pandemic … unless you are in fact pro-virus and pro-sickness and pro-death.
And no, I don’t love capitalism. I don’t love an economic system which enriches an aristocracy, degrades democracy, and destroys the environment which humans need to survive. Hope this helps 🙂