BIRMINGHAM – Parents in the Birmingham Public School District spoke for nearly three hours at the Education Council meeting on August 17 to share their thoughts – and then some – on the district’s decision to impose masks for the next school year.

BPS announced to families that masks would be mandatory for all staff and students at the start of the school year.

An email was sent to families the day before the board meeting explaining the decision, which is a change from the district’s announcement in mid-July that masks would be recommended for students , but not mandatory.

“Since our July communication… the latest update from (Michigan Department of Health and Human Services) strongly recommends that school districts require masks. Today, the BPS central leadership team met with the Oakland County Health Division to clarify planned directions, ”BPS Superintendent Embekka Roberson wrote in the email to the district level. “A critical factor in our decision was the OCHD statement that quarantines can be lifted when an individual is vaccinated and both parties are masked and at least 3 feet apart. Our goal is to provide a full year of in-person learning and our new guidelines will help keep our students in school for the duration of the school year.

Parents on both sides of the mask debate showed up at the district administration building to voice their opinions, and the scene was tense.

“It’s a very divided and volatile climate,” BPS parent Andrea Childers told the crowd during the public comment portion of the meeting. “We value your right to choose – I understand. A few years ago, I might have chosen not to get the vaccine or wear a mask, but now my health is compromised and I have no choice. By providing these recommendations, (BPS) supports families who also have no choice.

Kathryn Ziegler, a parent of two students at Beverly Elementary School and a doctor with the Beaumont health care system, also supported the council’s decision.

“I’m a surgeon at Beaumont in Royal Oak, and I have a bachelor’s degree in microbiology, so I’m here to give more from a medical point of view,” Ziegler said. “I applaud the prefect’s decision to impose masks on our children, who cannot be vaccinated. There are parents among us and perhaps board members who would like the decision to hide every child to be left in the hands of the parents of every child. But unfortunately, that is not how public health works.

Ziegler then took issue with claims that COVID-19 does not generally pose a risk to children.

“The delta variant is a game-changer. More than 100,000 children this week have tested positive. Two thousand children have been hospitalized and a third of those children are in intensive care nationwide, she said, according to statistics from the National Institutes of Health.

Hoping the district would reverse its decision, Jessica Tobin, mother of two BPS elementary students.

“Our children are entering their interrupted third year of school, and yesterday’s email did not contain any acknowledgment of the physical, mental and emotional challenges imposed by mitigation protocols, especially mask wear, for so many of these children. “Tobin told the board. “It also did not make us believe that this mandate was based on scientific data and, more importantly, that it would one day disappear.”

Paul Marcum said he and his wife discussed removing their student from the district because of the warrant.

“The choice, once again, was taken away from us at the last second. Why? If you want to wear a mask, fine. Wear a mask. No one is saying you shouldn’t. Why must everyone be unconstitutionally forced to wear a mask? We don’t respect, ”Marcum said. “It was political from the start, and it still is. My daughter’s freedom can’t be negotiated with any of you, okay? “

Although not part of the video recording of the meeting, several people present claim that later that night, after pro-mask speakers took their places on the podium, a man in the audience saluted Nazi and said “Hi Hitler”.

“It happened in the presence of members of the public, including people of color and of the Jewish faith. On our instructions, the Beverly Hills Police Department immediately removed this individual from the building during the meeting. An investigation is underway into this incident, ”said Roberson and BPS Education Council chairperson Lori Ajlouny in an email to families in the district.

They added that the incident, due to its nature, was cut from video of the meeting available online.

“Birmingham Public Schools categorically denounces and will not tolerate any act of racism, disrespect, violence and / or unfair treatment of any person, including actions and statements made at Education Council meetings. It is in situations where people are very attached to a subject and where emotions are strong, that we most need to model appropriate behaviors for our students, ”the email said.

Jason Brown, father of two BPS students, said the alleged move was “inexcusable”.

“Having two grandparents who came out of Auschwitz and many other family members who died during the Holocaust, I don’t think this person is a ‘Nazi’,” Brown said. “But what I do believe is that they are completely naive as to what this symbol means to the Jewish people and why it was so offensive and inappropriate to use it in the middle of this meeting.”

Although he recognizes everyone’s right to their opinions, Brown has asked for an apology.

“These actions should have great consequences,” he added in an online post. “I believe (unless he) apologizes and completes and completes the sensitivity training, that (the family) should look for another school district to call home, as well as any other family who thought that his actions were not “that bad”. “

A joint statement was released by State Representative Mari Manoogian, D-Birmingham, and State Senator Jeremy Moss, D-Southfield, both BPS graduates.

“I am shocked and dismayed to see the use of racist and Nazi language and images in our community, especially by parents attending a school board meeting. Let us be clear: racism, anti-Semitism and any other form of fanaticism and hatred have no place in our speech or in our community, and I strongly condemn the use of this expression and gesture in the meeting. from the board yesterday, “Manoogian said in a press release.

“I can assure this member of the BPS community that the Holocaust is not a school board meeting,” Moss said in the statement. “I am proud of our bipartisan efforts a few years ago to demand historically accurate teaching of the Holocaust curriculum in Michigan so that students in Birmingham schools, and students across Michigan, understand its enduring lessons. – and that protest measures against health measures during a once -The global pandemic of a lifetime is not one of those lessons. “

At the time of the Eagle press, the BPS mask mandate was still in effect. Students in Kindergarten to Grade 8 will be required to wear masks during indoor activities, while students in Grades 9 to 12 will be required to wear masks as long as Oakland County is at levels of “substantial” or “high” transmission as indicated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At the time of going to press, it has been determined that the county is at “high” transmission levels.

BPS families are encouraged to contact leaders at state and local levels to express support or protest against the mask’s mandate. Recommended contacts provided by BPS include the Oakland County Health Division at (248) 858-1000, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services at (517) 241-3740, and the Michigan High School Athletic Association at (517) ) 332-5046, as well as state officials, state senators and Governor Gretchen Whitmer, whose contact details can be found at house.mi.gov, senate.michigan.gov, and michigan.gov, respectively.

BHS will enforce the use of the mask during periods of “high transmission”

Bloomfield Hills Schools have joined with other districts in instituting a mask mandate for students and staff as classes resume this fall.
Mask use policies are expected to change during the school year depending on the level of community transmission, according to a district statement. These transmission levels are shown by data from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Oakland County Division of Health. At the time of going to press, Oakland County was at a “high” level of transmission.

According to mandate policy, masks will be mandatory for all students, staff and visitors over 2 years old in all buildings and on buses, although they are not mandatory outdoors.

For more information on the mask’s mandate and other COVID-19 mitigation protocols at Bloomfield Hills schools, visit bloomfield.org.