When the circus came to town

Last week I sat back in my chair and debated over whether or not to make some popcorn for the show I knew was about to begin at the Enterprise Board of Education July meeting. I just knew it was going to be entertaining. How wrong was I. It quickly turned into a horror show.

At issue? A mandate released by Superintendent Dr. Zel Thomas requiring mandatory masks when the school year begins this week.

Parents lined up to address the board over the mandate. One after another they approached the podium and gave reason after reason why they didn’t want their children to be required to wear masks with attendees hooping, whistling and clapping during and after each parent spoke. The board also clapped after each speaker to show their support for citizens voicing their opinions. My guess would be most of those attending had never even been to a board meeting and didn’t know what the correct protocol is.

Then the real shock came. Dr. Thomas had asked three doctors to speak to the board and those attending about the science and facts of COVID-19 as they currently know. When they were introduced, the crowd started booing and some of them left.

Are you kidding me? Who in the world boos a doctor, the very ones who are on the front lines trying to save people’s lives from this horrible disease? For those who don’t know, Alabama is a hot bed for COVID-19 right now and there isn’t a hospital room to be found anywhere in the area. I know of someone’s mother who is sick and on a gurney in the corner of a room right now at Southeast Health because there’s nowhere to put her. At the moment, we’re #1 again, and not in football. The state has the most number of COVID cases nationwide.

But I digress. Not only did they boo the doctors but the crowd starting shouting things at the first doctor who spoke. Thankfully Rodrick Caldwell, the board president, asked them to quiet down and listen because they had been afforded the same courtesy to speak.

Dr. Thomas then gave his reasons for issuing the mandate and some of the crowd left started yelling at him. What? Can you imagine anyone ever yelling at Thad Morgan or Dr. Jim Reese? Wouldn’t have ever happened. You know why? Too much respect for both of them and they wouldn’t have put up with it.

Dr. Thomas deserves a chance to show what kind of superintendent he can be and he deserves respect, as do the board members. They sat through two hours of parents acting like spoiled children stomping their feet because they’re not getting their way. What a great example all those parents made for their kids. It’s all about me, me, me and mine, mine, mine. I’m not saying you shouldn’t have the right to speak and defend your kids. But there’s a right way and a wrong way. The BOE meeting was an example of the wrong way.

On top of that, the Department of Defense school liaison from Fort Rucker was in attendance. What an embarrassment for our community. The commanding general at Fort Rucker met with local superintendents last week to find out where their school systems stood on masking. After all, Maj. Gen. Francis has students being bussed off the installation to area schools and back to living quarters on post. Plus the DOD ordered mandatory masking on all facilities in hot bed areas, which is the whole state of Alabama.

Guess those folks acting like they’ve never been taught manners, respect or civility never thought about the impact their actions would have on Fort Rucker, biting the hand that feeds all of us in this area. They need to go out to post and yell at the CG now. Or maybe travel to Washington D.C and boo and hiss at the Secretary of Defense. Wonder how far that will get them.

Dr. Thomas did not make his decision on the spur of the moment. He didn’t take this lightly. He watched the numbers carefully, rising for several weeks after the July 4th holiday. After consulting with doctors and the CDC, he made his decision and he fully believes it is in the best interest of the students and staff. You can rest assured Zel Thomas will always have the students first in anything he does. He wants to make sure your children are not only receiving the best education possible but that they are safe when they come to school.

That’s the same goal the board has. For those who don’t know, the board doesn’t make decisions on day-to-day operations, the superintendent does. No matter how much push back the parents gave at the meeting on the mandate, the board had nothing to do with the decision to wear masks. The best course of action would have been for those who don’t want their children masked to make an appointment with Dr. Thomas to discuss the situation.

Those who left didn’t even hear the facts the doctors presented nor did they hear what Dr. Thomas had to say. He was trying to tell them that unlike the last school year, if your children are masked and someone sitting next to them, who is also masked, tests positive for the virus, their child will not be quarantined. They won’t miss any classroom days like they did last year.

Has anyone considered what will happen to those students who come from single parent homes or are being raised by their grandparents? What if they take the virus home and their caregiver lands in the hospital or worse yet, dies? Who is going to take care of them?

Speaking of staff, teachers in the system used to complain that the former superintendent failed to make them aware of things they thought they needed to know before it would show up in the local media. To try and make things right, Dr. Thomas sent out a letter to the teachers and administrators in the system the week before the board meeting to inform them of the mask mandate. What did some of them do? Forward it to their friends and post it on Facebook. What a slap in the face to their boss. No wonder the former superintendent didn’t give them the heads up on what was coming. They probably threw him under the proverbial “school bus,” too.

We all have to do things in life we don’t want to do. That’s life. Do you want to pay taxes? I don’t. Do you want to have to pay for a driver’s license every four years, or pay for a car tag and insurance every year? I don’t either but those are the rules. We all have rules we have to follow in every day life, some we don’t mind, others we despise.

We have been very fortunate that only one employee at our business has had COVID-19. Our staff has been very diligent wearing masks when needed in crowds and keeping their hands washed. However, this guy was out of work for a month, spent several days in the hospital, had pneumonia when he came back to work and had to drag an oxygen tank around with him. Not to mention he lost his mother to the disease.

Do I like to wear a mask? Absolutely not. It’s hot, makes my glasses fog up and it’s hard to breathe because I have asthma. But if it will save my life and keep me from transmitting it to my family members, including my elderly mother, my friends and my co-workers, it’s worth every minute I have to wear it. That’s the purpose of the mask–to stop transmission.

Are these people I just named that important to you? Mine are. Think about it and then decide if you’re doing the right thing or doing the selfish thing.

Caroline Quattlebaum is co-publisher for The Southeast Sun and Daleville Sun-Courier. The opinions of this writer are her own and not the opinion of the paper. She can be reached at (334) 393-2969 or by email at [email protected].