Area school districts adopt state mask mandates

PORTALES — The Portales Municipal School Board voted 4-1 Monday in favor of approving state Public Education Department guidelines, which require elementary school students wear a face mask while in school.

Board member Rod Savage, after making a long statement about the New Mexico constitution, cast the lone vote to make face coverings optional for students.

About 100 people attended the meeting on Monday, many of whom expressed their displeasure with mask mandates in the public comment period. The News covered the two-plus hour meeting virtually.

Several said they did not believe face masks are effective in preventing the transmission of COVID-19.

Some people said it is not about COVID-19, but instead about retaining local control over students’ education.

Josh Parkin of Clovis told board members, “It’s political; it’s not safety,” and that people need to take local control back.

“It’s not about COVID,” said Scotty Savage. “It’s about control.”

Wade Fraze, who teaches in the Portales school system, said requiring students to wear face masks is hard on students’ morale. It gives them headaches and dizziness, and it is difficult for them to concentrate, he said.

Board members said they didn’t necessarily agree with the PED requirements, but noted a vote against the requirements would lead to the school board being suspended and all local control going to the PED.

Board member Randy Rankin told the crowd voters needed to make their voices known at the ballot boxes.

The Texico school board also met Monday night, and following just over an hour of discussion the board voted unanimously to follow the PED’s COVID-19 guidelines.

Board members told the crowd they didn’t like the requirements any more than anybody in the room, but it wasn’t their line in the sand and they didn’t like the odds in a prolonged fight with a PED, Legislature and Supreme Court that has repeatedly sided with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

Board members said they trusted Superintendent Rob Brown and staff to make the school as comfortable as possible, and Brown said he was looking at more outside time to allow students to have breaks from face masks.

In Clovis, its municipal school board will have a special meeting at 1 p.m. Friday to consider a pair of resolutions aimed at the state’s COVID-19 guidelines.

The meeting will be held at the G.C. Ross Administration Building, but can be attended virtually with Zoom meeting ID 852 7888 7963, passcode 260006.

A resolution regarding face mask mandates implores the governor to rescind and repeal any mask requirements, and that the board advocates for staff and parental freedom to make decisions on masks while schools continue vigilant hygienic practices and ensure support for the safety, health and well-being of students and educators.

A second resolution regarding local control states the board is not in favor of one-size-fits-all approaches by the state, supports local decision-making authority and “opposes executive action that restricts the ability of locally elected school boards to respond to the varied and ever changing needs of their districts, students and communities.”

Editor Kevin Wilson contributed to this report.