OXFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WXYZ) — Inside the high school media and library center in Oxford, parents went back and forth on the district’s mask mandates.
“We have the right to say what we do,” one parent said.
Parents expressed why or why not the school district should get rid of the mask mandate.
“With me having seven children, I don’t want my kids wearing mask —
my son has asthma,” a father said.
Other parents want the mandate to stay. George Stoffan has two students in the Oxford Community Schools district.
“I think that everybody here should be wearing a mask. We are in school, that’s the mandate — it’s disappointing,” he said.
The school board is working on a resolution. They want to drop the Oakland County mandate and make mask wearing for students options, stating that they will allow each family to determine what is right for them.
“We just want to protect our district and do it legally,” said Thomas Donnelly, president of the Oxford Community Board of Education.
State Republicans recently passed a budget saying they can cut funding for local health departments that require mask.
The Oakland County Health Division currently requires mask wearing, making this decision conflicting for some board members. At the same time, they say they could face consequences if they stick with the mandate.
“It’s about us and the executive branch and the legislative branch,” Donnelly said.
Oakland County Executive Dave Coulter says he “supports the health division’s mask requirement for schools.”
“Just over half the eligible residents 12 and older in the Oxford area have been vaccinated. Add to that, the seven-day case average and hospitalizations continuing to rise, and it is all the more essential to wear masks and utilize other safety measures in our schools,” Coulter said in a statement. “Now is not the time to remove the mask mandate.”
The school board did not vote on the resolution Tuesday night because the entire board was not present.
Connelly says as of now, they will make a vote at the next meeting after they discuss the mandate.
Additional Coronavirus information and resources:
View a global coronavirus tracker with data from Johns Hopkins University.
See complete coverage on our Coronavirus Continuing Coverage page.
Visit our The Rebound Detroit, a place where we are working to help people impacted financially from the coronavirus. We have all the information on everything available to help you through this crisis and how to access it.