The issue of face masks has been debated at many a recent Valley school district governing board meeting, with some parents vehemently against a requirement and some in favor of the COVID-19 mitigation effort.
But private schools have largely been left out of the conversation.
A law passed by the Arizona Legislature banning public schools from instituting mask requirements is set to go into effect on Sept. 29, according to a ruling from a Maricopa County Superior Court judge in a lawsuit regarding the measures.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey is trying to push districts to abandon mandates earlier, by Aug. 29, and he is threatening to withhold federal COVID-19 relief funds from schools with mandates that aren’t repealed by the end of the month.
Private schools, funded through tuition or donations, are not beholden to the state for funding and have been left to implement COVID-19 mitigation protocols of their own. Some, like Brophy College Preparatory, an all-boys Catholic high school in central Phoenix, have opted to mandate the vaccine for its eligible staff and students, or they will need to get tested for the virus every two weeks through Sonora Quest. A spokesperson for its all-girls neighbor, Xavier College Preparatory, confirmed the school is requiring masks indoors until Aug. 27 when it will reevaluate its protocols.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix, which has more than 31 elementary and high schools in the Valley as well as several preschools, did not return calls and emails regarding its policy for masks in schools.
Not every private school in the area has taken such a hardline stance.
Brant Nyhart, director of communication and dean of humanities for Paradise Valley Christian Preparatory, said the school loosened its strict protocols from last year but is still encouraging safety measures.
“Last year, PVCP had vigorous protocols in place aligning with [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] recommendations,” he said. “This included temperature checks, distancing on campus, one-way directional signage, mask requirements, and electrostatic misting and other sanitation of campus at regular intervals. While protocols have been loosened somewhat this year, we take the threat of COVID no less seriously and have a strict reporting protocol that requires parental notification should there be a positive COVID case in a child’s classroom. Moreover, we continue to affirm with our parents the requirement that a child remain home with any sign of illness, COVID or otherwise.”
Tuition for the Christian school currently runs at $12,562 annually for kindergarten through fifthgrade students, $13,056 for sixth- through eighth-graders, and $13,882 per year for high school students for the 2021 to 2022 school year.
Nyhart describes the campus as “mask-friendly” and that the burden of the decision to have kids wear them or not rests with parents.
A return to normalcy for its more than 350 students was at the forefront of the decision, he said, after a year of quarantines and virtual schooling.
“As a significant portion of our school community has either had the vaccine, had the virus, or in some cases both, it was determined for many reasons that moving forward with as much normalcy as possible was in the best interest of our students,” said Nyhart.
“Sadly, students at large have suffered immeasurably over the last year and a half, and the full toll of the pandemic on students’ psychological and developmental health remains to be seen. We desired to be a place that can provide students with some sense of normalcy.”
He confirmed there have been no major COVID-19 outbreaks on the K-12 school’s campus and any positive cases were quickly isolated.
While not every PVCP family agrees on everything in these increasingly politicized times, Nyhart said the school has successfully fostered a respectful environment nonetheless.
“We have families in our community across the spectrum when it comes to issues of masking, vaccinations, etc., but it has been very encouraging to see a sense of unity and respect on campus for personal family decisions on these issues,” he said. “We made clear early on that bullying would not be tolerated relative to individual family decisions, and our students and parents have really risen to the challenge.”
Dr. Evan Trost, a Scottsdale-based physician and parent of two students enrolled at Rancho Solano Preparatory School, said the school is also giving parents a choice: to mask or not to mask.
“They recommend people wear masks,” he said. “It’s an option. They’re not requiring it. They are cohorting some of the kids in the lower schools to have just less mixing in the pot, if you will. And they’re monitoring children for findings or symptoms consistent with COVID, with the intent to identify anyone who may have it, and then get them appropriately evaluated. And then, if they are positive, to contact trace and request quarantining of anyone exposed.”
While Trost said he appreciates the school’s transparency, he worries the lax protocols could be detrimental to his family. His wife is pregnant and his unvaccinated 10-year-old son has Crohn’s disease, making him vulnerable to the virus. He points to stories of students knowingly going to school with the virus.
“My assumption is people are doing it only on the basis or it’s happened so obviously we know people are doing it,” he said. “I think the fact that it could be happening is concerning. Wearing a mask just prevents someone who has it from spreading it.”
The 85258 ZIP code, where the upper grades are located in Scottsdale, is currently experiencing high community transmission of COVID-19, like much of Maricopa County. Current data from the county shows 160.18 cases for every 100,000 residents in the area.
Additionally, Rancho Solano is being advised, in part, by a COVID taskforce but none of the school’s parents know who is on the taskforce.
The school’s upper grades are located on Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community land, which currently requires masks, meaning the school is not abiding.
“The option is one thing to have when it only affects yourself, but no one should have the option of endangering the health and wellness of someone else, especially when what the alternative is being wearing a mask is so inexpensive, and has essentially no risk of harm,” said Trost. “Hopefully by not having a mask mandate, nothing comes of it.”
Officials from Rancho Solano did not return requests for comment from Daily Independent.
Lindsay is a Phoenix native and is thrilled to be reporting in her hometown.
After spending several years in advertising after college, she switched gears and graduated with her master’s degree in journalism at Arizona State University in 2019.
When she’s not writing, you can usually find her reading a book or playing with her family’s dogs.
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