Following Governor Newsom’s removal of the mask mandate for most indoor settings on March 1, the statewide mandate was removed from K-12 schools on March 11.
Delta College’s mask mandate remains in place following a vote at the March 15 board of trustees meeting. The board tied 3-3, with one abstention, meaning the vote failed to pass.
Prior to the vote, Delta’s Covid-19 Task Force presented information on the campus’ vaccination status, as well as data on infections among students and staff. As part of the presentation, the task force requested the board remove the school’s mask mandate.
Dr. Lonita Cordova, Delta’s vice president of student services, pointed to challenges with enforcement as a reason for removing the mandate.
“Some challenges that we’ve had on campus is the enforcement of mask wearing indoors is becoming extremely difficult [for] personnel who work at Atherton events and athletic events are having difficulty of holding district mandated protocols,” said Cordova.
Trustee Elizabeth Blanchard made her frustrations with not being back on campus clear.
“I think we’ve had enough excuses. It’s time for us as trustees to work full time, back in-person. Administrators should come, if not 70 percent of the time, at least 65 percent of time and come back and work with students,” said Blanchard.
Board members Catherine Mathis and Teresa Brown were the most vocal during the meeting, as they were both opposed to the lifting of the mask mandate.
“This was the agreement that everybody had when they signed on…These were the rules that they knew about and I think we should adhere to them,” Brown said in favor of keeping the mandate.
Mathis criticized the task force, specifically in her comments.
“You know I mean I’ve been waiting for this report for some time that was a part of the report I wanted, and right now I’m not hearing what those data are,” Mathis said.
Brown also questioned the makeup of the task force.
“Who actually is on the Covid19 task force at Delta College?” Brown said.
Cordova responded that 12 people were on the task force, before correcting herself to say there were 23 members.
Faculty members also spoke in favor of keeping the mandate, at least for some classes. Shenny Cruces, a ceramics instructor, spoke during public comment that some classes, such as labs, have different instruction requirements that present different environments when it comes to safety.
“I’d like to request that masks remain in studio lab courses. In my courses, students sit across from each other at tables roughly 3 feet by 5 feet for two to three hour class sessions,” said Cruces. “Labs are very different environments than the typical lecture, where students are spending very prolonged periods of time together and there’s no room for social distancing.”
Cruces said now is not the right time to remove the mandate, given the semester has already started.
“Those students signed up for this semester with a list of protocols Delta was taking to make them feel safe enough to enroll in my hybrid course, knowing they would be spending prolonged periods of time with other students,” Cruces said. “To change directions mid-semester and right before the last day to withdraw with a W is a disservice to those students who feel vulnerable.”