Johnson County school district lets parents exempt kids from masks, without doctor OK
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The Spring Hill school district is giving parents the option to exempt their children from wearing masks, without doctor verification.
At a special meeting Monday, the board voted 5-1 to allow parents and guardians to sign a district form certifying that their child has medical or mental health issues qualifying them for an exemption to the mask mandate. Previously, a signature from a health care provider, such as a medical doctor, nurse practitioner or psychologist, was required on the form.
The school board’s decision comes as several parents continue to protest district mask mandates. Across the country, some other schools have taken similar steps to expand mask exemptions.
Throughout the Kansas City metro, some parents have been swapping names of local physicians they claim will sign exemptions, whether or not the child has a medical issue.
“Nobody cares about these kids more than the parents, than that individual parent, no one does. I don’t and you don’t. None of us care about those people’s kids more than they do. And they know their health limitations. They know,” school board member Ali Seeling said.
She said the board’s action was a “bit like a compromise,” since it did not go as far as tossing out the Johnson County health order mandating masks inside schools with younger children. “But we’re also giving the parents the freedom to make health decisions for their own children.”
After the vote, members of the audience erupted in applause. But some have voiced concerns that parents could sign the forms without their children having a relevant medical condition.
School board member Doug Updike was the only no vote.
Local and national health officials have been urging districts to require universal masking this fall, worried that unmasked classrooms will lead to COVID-19 outbreaks and school closures. Coronavirus cases are surging throughout the region, driven by the highly contagious delta variant, which has led to more cases among children.
And with low vaccination rates among teens, Johnson County health officials have warned that they expect outbreaks in unmasked high school classrooms. Children under the age of 12 are not yet eligible to receive the shots.
Spring Hill, in southern Johnson County, is following the county’s health order mandating masks inside schools with students as old as sixth grade. The district is requiring all staff and students to wear masks in elementary and middle schools.
Most other districts in the county have gone beyond the order and are requiring masks for all grade levels, like almost every district in the Kansas City area. Of those, Raymore-Peculiar and Belton continue to make masks optional. And only Spring Hill and neighboring Gardner-Edgerton require them just for younger grades.
Johnson County’s order comes with exemptions for people with medical or mental health conditions or disabilities that prevent wearing a face covering, as well as for people communicating with a person who is deaf or hard of hearing and people engaging in religious activities.
The county also left enforcement of the order up to each school district.
After a lengthy discussion about the legal ramifications of departing from the county’s health order, officials decided that the school district has the authority to determine who is qualified to sign mask exemption forms.
“You’re setting the criteria for what you will accept in terms of documentation,” said Greg Goheen, district legal counsel. “The (county) order doesn’t speak to that, so I think you have the power to decide that without violating the order.”
In an email to The Star, county officials said, “Our order assigns responsibility for documentation of exemptions to schools and their guidelines. Spring Hill has modified their guidelines to allow parents to approve exemptions.”
The county’s legal counsel had previously told The Star that schools might be able to enact their own mask policies that are stricter or more lenient than the order the county approved.
“Local school districts may be able, by resolution, to adopt a more restrictive policy or opt out of the (county’s) restrictions under their so-called limited home rule authority,” the counsel said in a statement, but left determinations on the legality of doing so up to each school district.
So far, attorneys for other Johnson County public districts have advised school boards to follow the county’s order, worried about liability issues and the potential for lawsuits.
Meanwhile, some local pediatric groups are telling patients they will not write exemptions outside of what would be medically necessary — and those exemptions are rare.
“Johnson County Pediatrics will not offer mask exemptions unless physical, developmental or behavioral conditions make wearing a mask unsafe,” the group posted on Facebook earlier this month.
This story was originally published August 18, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
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