PUEBLO — Pueblo's School District 60 is reevaluating how they may hold Board Meetings going forward, after Monday's came to a halt when one group refused to wear masks in the administrative building.
"Our goal would be to continue to be in person, we ask that anybody coming to our meetings follow the mask meeting that's issued to Pueblo County," said Dalton Sprouse, Public Information Officer for D60.
According to Pueblo County Health Department's recent mask mandate, anyone in school buildings at any of the school districts in Pueblo need to wear masks when indoors.
"In D60, we follow the rules and if you're going to come into any of our school facilities including the admin building, it's a requirement that you wear a mask," said Sprouse.
Niki Richards is a mother to students in D60, and one of the members of the audience on Monday night who refused to put on a mask when asked by the board.
"We were not there to protest, we were not protesting. We had no signs, we were not making any racket, we were not yelling. I was there to speak for my kids, who are in D60," said Richards.
After a roughly 40 minute long recess, the Board Meeting ended earlier before hardly any items on the agenda were addresses, as a result of people refusing to abide by the mandate.
"There were some very valuable and important updates and reports that we would have liked to have given not only to our board, but also our community and we weren't able to do that, so it's very frustrating from out end," said Sprouse.
Sprouse says the district is discussing the possibility of moving Board Meetings completely online, something Pueblo's School District 70 already did for their most recent meeting. D70 was facing the same interruptions at their in-person meetings.
However, parents like Richards are not keen on the idea of online meetings.
"If we're brave enough to go in there and stand in front of them, and talk to them, and ask them questions, then they need to give us the same respect back," said Richards.
The health department has previously stated they will reconsider the school-wide mask mandate when they see a two-week downward trend in COVID-19 cases across the county, or possibly an increase in vaccination rates.
