The Greene County School Board recently took a stance against a vaccine and masking requirement for one of its programs.

At the December board meeting, it was mentioned that the federally funded Head Start program, which is through New Opportunities in Carroll, sent information out to collect data about a development concerning new requirements against COVID-19. The requirements were from the Biden Administration that required all Head Start staff to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by January 31st and there would be a masking requirement for children over the age of two that are in a Head Start program. 

Superintendent Tim Christensen shares the decision that the Board made.

“The basic decision was no, that’s not anything that they want to support. They want to send that back to New Opportunities to Head Start, basically saying that we don’t want children in our building to have to wear masks or anything in that nature. If the topic comes back then we may need to address it again.”    

Board President Steve Fisher shared concerns about parents pulling their children out of the optional program and Board member Cindy Daubendiek talked about a drastic cut financially because of the participation the district gets through Head Start. Christensen adds, the Head Start program is gathering responses from the participating school districts before a final decision is made. He says about 18 3-year-olds are in the full day Head Start program, while there are 25 4-year-olds in the half-day Head Start, half-day pre-kindergarten program.