Wichita school board president cancels meeting as new members show up without masks

A Wichita school board meeting was suspended because three newly elected members refused to comply with the board’s own policy and wear masks while inside a school building.

“Due to noncompliance, it is my duty to suspend this meeting without calling it to order,” Board President Stan Reeser said as the meeting was set to begin at 6 p.m. Monday inside North High School.

The school board voted unanimously last August to require masks indoors for anyone 3 years or older in Wichita Public Schools.

“This district cannot vote on directives, policies and protocols that we expect students, staff and visitors to abide by, all the while exempting BOE members,” Reeser said. “This is a message we cannot send.”

The three newcomers, Diane Albert, Kathy Bond and Hazel Stabler, unseated incumbent board members in November and were supposed to be ceremonially sworn in Monday evening. When the meeting began, they and many of the audience members in attendance were not wearing masks.

Albert, Bond and Stabler did not respond to repeated requests for comment Tuesday. They were recruited to run by the Sedgwick County Republican Party as part of a nationwide effort to mobilize voters around issues such as mask mandates, mandatory vaccination and critical race theory.

Reeser, who also did not respond to requests for comment, said he would speak with Superintendent Alicia Thompson on Tuesday to discuss rescheduling the board meeting. District officials said Tuesday that they have no new information on the rescheduled meeting.

Monday night’s agenda did not include any specific items regarding COVID-19 safety protocols.

Last week, Sedgwick County Health Officer Dr. Garold Minns said the county is facing its most dire COVID crisis of the pandemic, as surging case numbers threaten an already overwhelmed hospital system.

“I want you to know we are at the point we had all hoped would never occur,” Minns told county commissioners Wednesday. “Ever since this pandemic started, we were hoping to avoid this situation, but we are at a crisis.”

Board member Sheril Logan said Tuesday that the board implemented a mask mandate for a reason.

“Even though these are new members who didn’t vote on that, there is a procedure and a way that you change things if you want to change them, and it’s not by ignoring what’s going on,” Logan said. “You follow rules and then you change rules in the appropriate way. They have decided they just don’t have to do it.”

Ignoring the district protocol during a board meeting at a public school sets the wrong kind of example, Logan said.

“If we don’t do that, it becomes extremely difficult for the administrators and teachers to enforce this out in our buildings,” she said.

Reeser said Monday night that for in-person learning to remain viable this semester during the most recent COVID surge, the district must take safety measures seriously.

“Our students and staff have made it clear that they want to be in school to teach and to learn,” he said. “In order to make this possible, we must follow current health recommendations and public health guidelines. The board of education’s face mask requirement gives us the greatest chance to have the safest possible teaching and learning environment.”

The district’s MySchool Remote program implemented last school year is not available to students this year, after a decision by the Kansas State Department of Education and the Kansas Legislature to limit the amount of time students spend learning remotely.

This story was originally published January 10, 2022 at 6:52 PM.