Cloverleaf rescinds mask mandate, moves to building thresholds

WESTFIELD TWP. — Starting next week, face mask use will be optional for Cloverleaf Local Schools students after a Wednesday board of education vote rescinding a previous districtwide requirement. Officials said families will be notified of the change today and specified that optional mask use will begin at the start of next week due to there being no school on Friday. Under the plan chosen by the school board in a 3-1 vote, all three Cloverleaf school buildings will operate under daily student absence thresholds. If more than 6 percent of students are absent due to coronavirus quarantine or isolation for three consecutive days, that building will be subject to a mask mandate for 10 straight school days. The requirement would remain in place until the facility has 4percent or less of its students absent for three school days in a row. A presentation from Superintendent Daryl Kubilus showed that all Cloverleaf buildings are currently well below 6 percent and have seen COVID-19-related absences plummet along with most other area districts. "There's a lot of variables that go into this data," he said. "It would be very easy for me to say that masks were the reason it's gone down so significantly. Our kids spend eight hours a day with us but they spend 16 hours a day at home and the entire weekend at home. I can't help but think there are variables that don't have to do with us." According to that data, Cloverleaf Elementary School has seen its student absence rate drop from 7.7 percent on Sept. 9 to 2.5 percent on Oct. 5. Over the same period, Cloverleaf Middle School has seen its rate go from 10.8 percent to just 0.4 percent. The high school has experienced similar results, going from 7.5 percent to below 1 percent. The district issued its mask requirement for all students at the start of September amid skyrocketing quarantine and case numbers. Between Aug. 18 and Sept. 14, 453 students were quarantined due to coronavirus exposure or close contact. That number dropped to 66 across the proceeding three weeks leading up to Oct. 5, according to district data. "We seemed to have spiked in the county during this delta variant and are starting to see somewhat of a decline," Kubilus said. "There are a lot of variables to consider, but I do think it's significant to consider that we've gone from 7.7 isolations or COVID cases a day to 1.4." Two parents spoke before the board Wednesday, maintaining vehement opposition to any mask requirements. "I find it hard to believe that requiring our children to wear a mask all day long has anything to do with their health and wellness at this point," said parent Allison Price. "It sounds more to me like a numbers game, honestly. Last week, high schoolers attended the homecoming dance at the rec center with no mask requirement. Students attended homecoming festivities and sports all week long with no mask requirement." School board Vice President Jeff Schreiber provided the no vote Wednesday, saying that ongoing mask policy should be based on building absences as well as the current level of COVID-19 community spread in the surrounding area. "I want it to be 2019 again where we can be elbow to elbow again and not thinking about this," he said. "It's not that way right now, though. Creating this threshold is based on data where you've created a self-fulfilling prophecy. There's more to the story. You can't do it independent of what's happening in Medina County. The students spend 80 percent of their time out there." Board President Jason Myers was in full support of going back to optional masks with building thresholds and made the motion for the roll call vote. "If things spike we can come back here and readdress the options we've heard tonight," he said. "If things spike we have the thresholds in place. We'll be looking at two more weeks of data and coming back to have another conversation." Contact reporter Jonathan Delozier at (330) 721-4050 or jdelozier@medina-gazette.com.