Thread by @Ajzionts

Both sides have a similar turnout. Last photo is of private security and uniformed+ununiformed police.

A school board member is calling in from a wildfire deployment.

Part of the crowd. 70 are signed up for public comment.

Motion fails to hear from three doctors but unanimously passes to hear from one doctor. This is in addition to any doctor/medical expert who may want to speak during public comment. Board president warns crowd to be respectful after loud reactions to first vote.

Nearly all seats are taken on the first floor of the auditorium. More are standing. There are a few people on the second floor but I don’t think the general public is allowed up there.

First three speakers were against the two-week mask mandate. There were cheers after. The fourth speaker was in favor of masks and the cheering was longer and included standing ovations.

Rep. Phil Jensen says he feels for woman who has multiple family members with cancer but says he/we aren’t responsible for others health. She walks out and people boo. “We are all responsible for ourselves,” he says.

The heckling is mostly coming from the pro-mask crowd telling people to wrap up or just commenting on what they are saying. There are some cuss words.

A doctor who works in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation is here to speak on invitation from a school board member. He is against masks for kids. He says people are encouraging boycotts of his business + other doctors are afraid to speak out for fear of retaliation.

He says he used to be more in favor of masks but changed his mind. He says the data/studies is so mixed, especially when it comes to kids.

He says he would be in favor of masks for kids if they could properly follow mask rules that doctors do. He also says he has concerns about negative side effects of mask wearing in kids.

Superintendent Simon says 4,316 students are high risk when in comes to COVID. Also here is the amount of active cases this year compared to last year.

A doctor invited by a pro-mask mandate is speaking. He’s an emergency medicine doctor + president of the Black Hills Medical Society. He says the previous doctor’s views goes against multiple boards of doctors.

The pro-mask doctor is reading statements from himself and others. They work in emergency medicine, the ICU, pediatrics and infectious diseases. The ICU doctor says this outbreak has resulted in more kids being hospitalized.

A doctor says kids aren’t just impacted by getting COVID themselves. If they go to the ER for any reason they might see delays due to adult COVID patients.

The doctor says yes, kids are negatively impacts by being out of school or distance learning. But a temporary mask mandate can help slow the spread to keep more kids in school.

Board Member Amy Policky says everyone wanted school to be normal this year but the data is not what they hoped. She says a two-week mask mandate can help keep students and teachers in school while helping out the hospital.

She says a teacher emailed to say she’s having to pay for her own hand sanitizer+wipes.

This fails 5-2: A two-week mask mandate, the creation of a panel of medical experts who would help create a plan to keep schools open+safe, and other prevention methods.

Policky says parents are sending sick kids to school.

There is now a debate about what COVID data to share and how to share it.

Ok this was reached by compromise: Parents won’t receive automatic email alerts, they can opt-in to them. Dashboard will share total, recovered and current cases at each school. Gone are elementary grade breakdowns and close contact alerts.

Thomas is explaining a list of items that would delete a bunch of polices. She says they contradict other policies so we should use the older policies or rewrite them. She says she doesn’t want to get rid of student representatives but they should be part of a different policy.

Policky responds that we should create/revise new policies before deleting existing ones.

This passed 4-2: The media must wear credentials. They can’t be given “special access” to board members. Thomas says someone once helped a journalist get closer to a board member without the board member’s knowledge and this is a safety issue.

Policky says requiring media credentials for media might violate open meeting laws which says meetings must be open to the public. The first reading passed and Thomas says the board can look into this issue before the next vote.

Federal prosecutor+district mom Heather Sazama addresses the board, especially police officer Jim Hansen. She says rules of evidence in court wouldn’t allow a dermatologist to be an expert for determining a death. She equates this to having physical rehab Dr. speak on COVID

There’s been multiple people saying sick kids are coming to school, some without masks.