No mask mandate for Ottawa's largest school board

Trustees with Ottawa's largest school board voted to not mandate masks at its schoolsduring a divided meeting Thursday night.

The twelve-member board voted six for and six against the motion introduced Tuesday by new trustee Dr. NiliKaplan-Myrth, ultimately failing to pass it.

That motion was torequirestudents to wear masks during allactivities at Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) schools, except for music and other performing arts orsports when they can't be worn norlunch or snack breaks.

The motion points to a recentrise in COVID-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus(RSV), andstruggles at area ICUs and CHEO, eastern Ontario's children's hospital in Ottawa,to keep up.

It alsoreferences strong recommendations from local public health officials and Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario's chief medical officer of health,to wear a mask indoors.

Trustees who voted in favour of the mandate wereAlysha Aziz,Justine Bell,Cathryne Milburn,Amanda Presley, Lyra Evans, andKaplan-Myrth.

Trustees who voted against wereDonna Blackburn,Donna Dickson,Jennifer Jennekens,Matthew Lee,Suzanne Nash andLynn Scott.

The board of trustees postponed thevoteTuesday nightfollowinga dramatic special meetingduring which security and police removed some people for disruptive behaviour.

• Heated school board meeting on mask mandate ends with no audience, no vote

OCDSB board chair Lyra Evans repeatedly chastised parents and other members of the public for inappropriate screaming and cheering throughout the evening.

Twice, Evanscalled abrupt breaks during which security and police escorted people out.

Trustees divided, motion questioned

After hours of amending the motionline-by-line, it was cleartrustees were divided on where they stand onthe contentious motion citing community feedback and pushback they've received from both sides of themandatory masking issue.

An amended motion included exceptions for anyone "to whom a mask would pose a hardship," and people who fail to wear a mask wouldn't be suspended or disciplined. Educators wouldn't be expected to "take further action to enforce masking," the revisions read.

Some trustees began questioning the relevance of such a lax mandate.

"This is no longer a mandate," said trustee Lee. "[The motion] isunenforceable and it doesn't really do anything in terms of trying to get a population-wide response."

Blackburn echoed that sentimentand urged her colleagues to vote the motion down.

"We've caused all this turmoil and upset in our community," she said, adding it's public health officials' responsibilities to mandate masks. "They are not choosing to exercise that power, and there is a reason why."

• Ontario's top doctor strongly recommends masking indoors
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On the other side, Evansurged her colleagues to pass the motion.

"I view this motion as prudent as reasonable compromise," she said. "This motion has the potential to do good. We heard a number of times that every little bit helps."

In her concluding remarks, Kaplan-Myrthpredicted the motion would fail, but urged her colleagues to think about the city's vulnerable population.

"Sometimes it's necessary to do what's difficult," she said. "We must do what is difficult for the most vulnerable people in our community, even if we lose support of some people."

Student trustees against mandate

Both student trustees, whose votes don't count officially, voted against the mask mandate. They said their peers are concerned over the "very vague" wording of the mandate.

"It's simply a strong recommendation," said student Tabarak Al-Delaimi.

"Portraying this as a mandate will cause an incredible amount of confusion and unnecessary conflict."

"After a few months of virtually no measures, the abrupt reinstatement will surely lead to tension tension between students, those who comply and those who don't. Tension between students and staff," added studentAntong Hou.