PORTAGE, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — Portage Public Schools will be masking up this fall, following last week’s mandate from local health officials, and a lot of people are not happy.
A group of parents and students turned out at last night’s Board of Education meeting to voicing opposition to the policy and demanding their rights as parents. Many of them criticized everyone from the Kalamazoo County Health Director to Governor Whitmer. Some even threatened the Portage Public School’s Trustees with recall efforts.
Below are some of the comments from parents opposed to the mandates:
“I believe as a mother and as a citizen of the United States of America that it is my right as it is yours to choose.”
“Who am I going to sue when my son dies in a classroom because he has been suffocated by a mask!?”
“I will encourage every single one of these parents to pull their children from Portage Public Schools!”
At one point, the Board took a ten-minute recess when one speaker refused to sit down. But despite interruptions from the crowd, Trustees Keith Crowell and Rusty Rathburn defended their decision to mask up, citing personal experiences with COVID-19. But they were often interrupted by the parents in attendance, despite what they were sharing.
The Kalamazoo County Health Department is now mandating elementary students and any staff or students who work with them mask up. Portage Schools has taken it a step further, requiring masks for all students while in classrooms and encouraging their use elsewhere indoors.
The Schoolcraft Community Schools Board of Education also heard from a group of angry parents opposing the mask mandate last night, but after conferring with their lawyer decided to comply with the Health Department’s order. Superintendent Rick Frens says he probably won’t require that staff enforce the rule if a student or parent shows up without a mask. He wants more data from health officials on the impact of the virus on school-aged children.
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