In a 4-3 vote, the Harmony Grove School board voted Thursday to repeal the mask mandate it had put into place last week.
After an hour of comments from parents and teachers that were mostly against the mandate, Harmony Grove Superintendent Al Snow addressed the school board saying that he felt the mandate had already caused a disruption and that the only way to enforce it would be to turn away each and every student that didn't wear a mask to school.
Snow further stated that he would have to fire every teacher that refused to wear a mask and that it would cost the school legal fees to fight those appeals.
He stated that he didn't want his teachers to the be the "mask police," but also added that a mask mandate might be needed in the future if the COVID situation worsened.
Snow ended by saying that unlike teachers, his employment was not subject to the Fair Dismissal Act and the board could choose to let him go at anytime.
A role call vote was held. Randy Jenkins, Matthew Nutt, Chris Garcia and Brenda Lea voted in favor of repealing the mandate and Wendi Nix, Paulette Sullivent and Jerry Wilson voted against the repeal.