The Valparaiso Community Schools superintendent remains hopeful that the school corporation can revisit its mask requirement soon, but for now, it's helping keep students in the classroom.
Dr. Jim McCall told the school board Thursday the district's had more than 300 COVID cases in the last two weeks. Another 159 students had to quarantine, but that number would've increased by still another 576, if Valpo Schools didn't have a mask mandate.
But opposition to masking remains.
During Thursday's public comment, Veronica Wilson told board members that it's okay to reverse course. "It's time to end the mandates, end the masking, and, even more, it's time to take our freedom back," she said.
Brian Williams, on the other hand, urged school officials to continue to follow CDC advice. "Millions of Americans have not done the very least they can do, the simplest thing, to get vaccinated, wear a mask. I don't like [wearing a mask] and I look stupid. Fine. I don't care. I mean, you got to do your part," Williams said.
Superintendent McCall says the silver lining is that cases appear to be on a downward trend, and he hopes that will be able to continue.
During Thursday's meeting, McCall also defended the way school officials are using the district's federal COVID money. Parent Jessica Jepsen said the schools should focus less on equipment and more on education.
"The kids don't need things and stuff. They need people to pay attention to them. They need to be able to see people speak. They need programs that are going to help them recover from all this stuff. What programs are you putting in place because of COVID?" Jepsen asked.
McCall says the money is being used to increase teaching staff and offer before- and after-school tutoring. "We are using those dollars wisely and in the service of our kids. We have a lot of pride in doing it the Valpo way, and that means putting kids first. And we will continue to do that, legally and ethically," he said.
Some of the money was used to buy new minibuses, but McCall says that also helps students, by removing barriers for them to attend the tutoring sessions.
