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Parents: Iowa law banning mask mandates will bring 'more stress and more anxiety'

Moline Dispatch and Rock Island Argus - 5/21/2021

May 21—At 10:06 a.m. Thursday morningJordan Appleby texted his mother while inside Davenport'sWilliams Intermediate School.

It was a message Lyn Appleby did not want to hear, but feared after Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a law after midnight prohibiting all public schools from having mandatory masking rules. The law went into effect for Thursday's school day.

"No one has their mask on," wrote Jordan, 12, a seventh grader at the public school on North Division Street.

One minute later he texted "And if you get COVID your mom can send you to school with no mask."

Lyn said her older son, Julius, texted from Davenport West High School and reported the majority of the students opted to not wear masks.

"I'm really concerned about spread," Lyn Appleby said. "We had just a few weeks left. And now this.

"It's just more stress and more anxiety for kids and parents."

Gov. Reynolds' news came on the heels of a letter to education and childcare professionals from the Iowa Department of Public Health that recommended rescinding mask requirements in schools.

As Scott County Health Department Medical Director Louis Katz explained earlier this week, the Scott County Health Department "opposed the state's recommended changes on medical and public health grounds in a communication with school administrators, particularly with so few days left in the school year. The CDC agrees with our position."

Katz explained "little spread is recognized inside schools precisely because of mask adherence and distancing. By contrast, childcare centers continue to see spread because of their younger students' inability to mask and distance optimally."

Katz stressed the Scott County Health Department asked the districts not to relax its rules, citing statistics that show in the last 30 days, Scott County has had 1,035 individuals test positive for COVID-19. For the entirety of the pandemic, 16% of the cases have been in children up to the age of 18. During the last month, the percent in that age group has been 29%.

The leadership of the Bettendorf and Pleasant Valley community school districts each met to plan in the wake of the change, their superintendents said Thursday. Both districts plan to retain other COVID-19 mitigation practices and staff will work with families who want to switch to remote learning.

One difference between the two districts on mitigation strategies is that Pleasant Valley may look at the room layouts based on social distancing now that not everyone is covering their faces, Brian Strusz, the district superintendent, said.

There had been no report of problems in either district, they said.

There was a mix of students with and without face coverings at the Bettendorf school buildings, Superintendent Michelle Morse said.

She said learning was the primary focus in the classrooms Thursday, but if students felt the need to discuss the changes, their teachers were prepared to help them do so.

Pleasant Valley decided to talk about it up front, make sure everyone was comfortable, then move on with the day's lessons, Strusz said. The administration prepared teachers to discuss it with their students, who shouldn't feel out of place because of their choice on face coverings.

"The key really is, no matter what you choose, that's OK," Strusz said.

He said the conversation should not stop at the school property line, either. Parents should make sure their children are in a good place.

"When kids come home tonight, make sure you have a conversation with your child too," he said.

The Davenport and North Scott community school districts were asked to comment, but either were unavailable Thursday, or attempts to reach them were not immediately successful.

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