A Tennessee school board extended its mask mandate Thursday night following an incident earlier this month in which a group of parents demonstrated outside a board meeting, shouting and holding back professionals of health for their support for facial coverings.
Williamson County Schools voted 8-4 at a special meeting Thursday night to require elementary and high school students to wear masks, The Tennessean reported.
The original mask mandate only applied to students and elementary school staff. The term will be valid until September 21.
“Due to the fact that our main goal is to keep children on campus and keep our students and staff safe and secure, I would like to move forward to expand on the motion we made two weeks ago, for all grades of K up to 12 “. said board member Jennifer Aprea.
A board member who passed the first measure to require primary school students to wear masks opposed the extension of the term, according to the media.
“I’m not convinced that universal masking is something we need to do right now,” Sheila Cleveland said.
The expansion comes after a group of parents he objected to mask the mandates in early August. The group met outside the Williamson County School Board meeting at the time, chanting “we will not comply” when health workers left the meeting building.
“You’re not on our side!” a father called the workers. “We know who you are.”
“I know who you are. You can leave freely, but we will find you, ”another father said.
The extended term comes after the Republicans Gov. Bill Lee recently signed an executive order allowing parents to choose children from mask mandates in their schools, a move that supported one of the school board members.
“How long will we win to kill this dead horse,” member Dan Cash said. “Who do we listen to? What do we listen to? How about parents who send their children to school, care for them and love them. Why should we continue this?”
The district reported more than 4,500 students out of its 18,000 elementary students have already opted out of office.