Board passes mask mandate for Oasis Charter Schools in Cape Coral, will honor doctor’s notes

Reporter: Erika Jackson Writer: Jack Lowenstein
Published: Updated:
Oasis Elementary School. (WINK News)

Cape Coral Charter School Governing Board passed a 90-day mask mandate for Oasis Charter Schools students and staff during a special meeting at Cape Coral City Hall Friday to address the COVID-19 surge within its school system. The mandate will begin Tuesday.

Students and staff are required to wear masks indoors on school campuses when social distancing is not possible. Students who have doctor’s notes will be granted exception to this mandate, and doctor’s notes from last school year will be honored.

Opinions were split over the mandate among parents of students in the charter school system.

“The COVID situation is just out of control,” Cara Bolin said.

More than a dozen parents want the board to know they’re against a mask mandate.

“I don’t think it’s good for their health, physical, physical health or mental health,” Jennifer Rissling said.

Superintendent Jacquelin Collins said the board made a decision members felt were in the best interests of everyone’s heath at Oasis Charter Schools given current circumstances.

“We’re in such a predicament right now with quarantine students, with students being out of school,” Superintendent Jacquelin Collins said. “The infection rates in school, we felt we had to make an emergency decision to stop the spread.”

All board members wore masks at the special meeting except for one. The board ultimately decided to require masks indoors when social distancing is not possible.

“I don’t believe that putting a mask on my face or my child’s face is going to stop her from getting COVID,” Bolin said. “But it can mean our doctors are not overwhelmed.”

The board said it could end the mask mandate sooner than 90 days if there is evidence the rate of spread has lessened.

As of Thursday, more than half of students and staff (1,800 people) at Oasis Charter Schools were in quarantine due to contact with or contracting COVID-19. So a special meeting was called to review safety measures at Oasis Charter Schools during the pandemic.

The four Oasis Charter schools already surpassed last year’s COVID-19 numbers in the first few weeks of classes. More than 60% of students and staff have been under a quarantine order since the start of school.

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.