A Boise charter school passed a mask mandate. After these doctors spoke, it was reversed
In August, the board of a small charter school in Boise voted to mandate masks for students and staff. The decision fell in line with the policy passed by the Boise School District.
But less than two weeks later, the Peace Valley Charter School’s governing council held another meeting, where a few doctors spoke.
One of those people was Dr. Ryan Cole, a controversial Garden City pathologist who was confirmed to the Central District Health board by one vote on Friday. Cole has described the COVID-19 vaccine as “fake” and “needle rape,” opposed mask mandates and advocated for alternative treatments for COVID-19.
The board also heard more input from the community, many of whom didn’t support a mask mandate.
By the end of the board’s meeting on Aug. 26, members had come to a new decision: Masks would be optional for students and staff.
It’s a decision that has drawn both criticism and praise from parents, and comes as debates over mask mandates have intensified across the Treasure Valley. It also resulted in the resignation of the board’s president.
The timeline of the mask decision
In June, Peace Valley made masks optional for the coming year — a step most school districts took as COVID-19 cases dropped and vaccinations increased.
On Aug. 16, the board discussed the issue again and Principal Andrew Ross recommended the board keep masks optional for the about 360 students in the school. Those guidelines would change if the city or county reinstated a mask mandate, Ross said.
The board heard from Dr. David Pate, the former CEO of St. Luke’s Health System. Pate has warned about the potential consequences of not mandating masks in school, given how transmissible the delta variant is and the percentage of people not vaccinated.
At that meeting, the school board passed a mask mandate, with two members voting against it. There are seven people on the board.
On Aug. 23 — one week later — the board held another meeting to finish its agenda, and a few board members requested they hold an additional meeting to revisit the mask policy.
Ross told the Idaho Statesman the board wanted to hear from more people on the issue, so he put out a call to the community. He received several names, including Cole and Dr. Carol Low, a clinical psychologist.
People also recommended Dr. Jim Souza and Dr. Kenneth Bramwell from St. Luke’s, as well as Dr. David Peterman from Primary Health.
Ross said he reached out to all of them. Cole and Low agreed to attend the meeting. Peterman submitted a letter, which recommended universal masking.
In that time, faculty members at the school also put together a letter, which referred to a “grave loss of civility in our collective discourse” and said the school should be free of bullying and coercion. The letter did not give a definitive recommendation on masking, but said some were “relieved” and others were “dismayed” by the previous decision to mandate masks.
The school also solicited more input from the community on mitigation measures.
The next meeting was held on Aug. 26. Board members heard from Cole and Low, who both opposed mask mandates. Another expert, Dr. Birgitt L. Dau, who is certified in infectious diseases and internal medicine, was present at the meeting. She was not directly invited by Ross, he said, but offered the perspective later in the meeting that universal masking reduces transmission of the virus.
Board members were also presented in their packets with several documents on masking, many of which were submitted by the community. Some of those documents were studies against masks, including ones titled “Exclusive: Chemical cocktail found in face masks” and “COVID-19 Masks Are a Crime Against Humanity and Child Abuse.” The documents also included guidance from federal agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and an article disproving various claims, such as that masks interfere with a child’s lung development.
Ross said his recommendation to keep masks optional was based on a number of factors, including information from Central District Health and data from last year, when the school saw fewer than 10 positive cases of the virus. The school also employs other mitigation measures.
The meeting lasted several hours before the board decided to reverse its mask policy.
William Paul, a member of the board who had supported the mask mandate and then a mask-optional policy, said his decision was largely driven by the community. A majority of the school supported a mask-optional policy, he said, estimating a split of about 58% to 42%.
One story he heard in particular stuck with him — that of a child who had a hearing disability and saw their grades plummet when having to wear a mask.
Paul said he believes masks work in reducing the spread of the virus, and that Cole’s testimony was not a “hugely influencing factor” in his decision.
“The bottom line was we had a good number of people speak up who were having direct impacts from the masks,” Paul told the Statesman. “Ultimately, even if I personally believe that masks work, I’m a representative of the community and the bulk of the community seemed to be leaning toward mask optional.”
On the Friday before school started, parents received a notice telling them the school had changed its policy and masks would no longer be required.
School started the following Monday for grades 1-8.
Andrea Pettitt, who served as president of the board, told the Statesman she resigned after the decision and moved her daughter to the Boise School District. As the president, she voted only in the event of a tie.
“I could not in good conscience continue to serve on the Peace Valley board knowing that the school would not be following Central District Health guidelines,” she said in an email. “I did not invite nor endorse Dr. Ryan Cole to be an expert resource.”
She said she thought Pate was the “right person” to give advice to the school and that stepping down was the “only logical choice” after the Aug. 26 meeting. Still, she said she hopes Peace Valley maintains its enrollment and is able to continue its mission.
“It’s a sad situation all around for students, school board volunteers and school patrons all around the country,” she said.
Paul said he apologized to those families who were put in a place of discomfort by the decision. He said he hopes families stick with the school and trust the administration to track the situation and pivot if necessary.
The issue of masks has stirred tension in several school districts.
But the school’s decision was the opposite of what several other school boards in the region have done in recent weeks. The Boise and Caldwell school districts had previously passed mask-optional policies, but they changed course and mandated masks last month. The West Ada School District also mandated masks, though it gave parents the option to opt their kids out of the requirement.
Already, several schools with mask-optional policies have had to close temporarily due to outbreaks or a shortage of staff members.
What was said at the meeting
During the Aug. 26 meeting, Cole made many of the same statements he has made in the past. He said he wished masks worked, but there is no evidence they do.
“As much as we would like to think that masking our children does something, statistically there’s never been one randomized control trial that shows masks to stop a spread of a viral airborne illness, especially cloth masks, so there’s really statistically no efficacy in masks,” he told the board.
Masking in schools has been recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics. The AAPA said masks are “proven to reduce transmission of the virus and to protect those who are not vaccinated.”
Cole pointed to other mitigation measures, such as hand washing and ventilation in classrooms, saying those were better than mask wearing. He also claimed masks could affect oxygen levels.
“Masks increase retained carbon dioxide and hypercapnia can cause brain fog, it can cause inflammation in the brain and can cause inflammation in the body,” he said. “And this is something we don’t hear enough of.”
The World Health Organization has said the use of medical masks “does not lead to CO2 intoxication nor oxygen deficiency.” The American Lung Association said masks are “designed to be breathed through.”
Cole also cited the low death rate for children who get the virus.
“I think we need to be prudent and say it’s time to let children be children, delta is going to spread, we cannot stop it,” he said. “Everybody’s essentially going to get it.”
The people who are safest, he said, are those who have recovered from COVID-19.
“Those are the people that should have the freest pass in society. Their chance of getting COVID again are about one in a kajillion,” he said. “… Children are our opportunity for herd immunity, because for most of them, this virus is very mild.”
The CDC said vaccination offers better protection against COVID-19 than a previous infection. A study showed, after being infected with the virus, people who weren’t vaccinated were two times as likely to get COVID-19 again when compared to people who were fully vaccinated.
“These data further indicate that COVID-19 vaccines offer better protection than natural immunity alone and that vaccines, even after prior infection, help prevent reinfections,” the CDC said.
Low largely agreed with Cole and talked about the social and emotional impacts of wearing a mask. She said it’s difficult for kids not to be able to see others, adding that children learn and take cues from facial expressions.
“It is very, very important that we never assume that a mask is just a mask,” she said. “A mask is a face cover, a mask is something you hide behind, a mask is something that creates an aura of fear, and disease and stress and distance.”
Cole was asked during the meeting why his opinions were different than those from the CDC and other medical experts. He responded with a quote: “If everybody is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking.”
Ross said it was important to hear different perspectives on the issue, especially given Cole’s high profile.
“We may not always agree with each other,” he said. “There’s an importance of hearing other viewpoints.”
The response from the community
The board received dozens of comments from parents. Many were in support of a mask mandate. Parents told the board masking was the only solution, given how contagious the delta variant was, and expressed concern for family members who were immunocompromised.
Many were also fighting for a mask-optional policy. Parents said they had the right to choose what safety protocols their kids follow. One parent submitted a letter that referenced 65 research documents about masks, saying they do not stop viruses and were harming kids.
Other parents talked about masks causing anxiety and other mental health consequences.
After the decision was made, a few parents told the Statesman they were upset over what seemed to them a lack of transparency. Parents weren’t told who the experts would be before the meeting and the decision was made just days before the first day of school, they said.
Ross said there were parents on both sides of the issue and he hoped the community would appreciate that the school was trying to have balanced representation to inform its decisions.
Mike Satz, who has children in the school, said he was surprised to see Cole was brought in to speak.
“I was shocked by what Cole was saying, I was shocked that he was giving medical advice over a Zoom meeting,” he told the Statesman. “He was thinking that if he just said science terms, it would be enough to persuade and confuse people. It was really just an astonishing display of manipulation and ignorance.”
Satz, who formed the Idaho 97 Project, said he believed Cole was used to reach a certain outcome. The Idaho 97 Project has been advocating for mask mandates in schools.
“They brought two experts that are completely the opposite of the vast majority of what medical experts are telling us,” Satz said.
Now, sending his kids to the school, he’s worried about their safety.
“What we really want,” he said, “is we want kids to stay in school.”
This story was originally published September 8, 2021 at 4:00 AM.
