By Ray King
A group of parents in the White Hall School District have asked the school board to rescind the mask mandate the board adopted last week before schools began.
On Monday, Laura Golden, a parent in the district delivered a petition to Superintendent Doug Dorris bearing the names of over 100 parents who want the board to call a special meeting to address the mask issue.
Golden told Deltaplex News that the group is not anti-mask but believes parents should make the decision on whether or not their children should wear masks in the schools.
She said the group received advice from Republican State Senator Trent Garner of El Dorado, who introduced legislation this year to prohibit government entities, including school districts, from imposing mask mandates.
That legislation was signed by Governor Asa Hutchinson in April. The Governor has since said he regretted signing the legislation but said if he had vetoed it, he would have been overridden by the Republican dominated General Assembly.
Golden said Dorris told her the meeting would probably be scheduled Monday or Tuesday of next week and any parent who wants to speak on the issue, either for or against the mandate, must sign up with the district by Friday of this week.
