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Park City School District emails tell inside story of Parley’s Park mask mandate decisions

KPCW
Parley's Park Elementary School

Internal Park City School District emails reveal new details about what happened before and during last November’s mask mandate at Parley’s Park Elementary School.

Last Nov. 1, Summit County’s school mask mandate was triggered at Parley’s Park when 2% of the campus tested positive for COVID-19. The mandate was implemented through a public health order; it required masks temporarily be worn inside any school with a threshold level of COVID cases.

When Parley’s Park hit the threshold, the Park City School District sent emails to families and staff saying the mandate was in effect.

However, emails show Superintendent Jill Gildea did not believe schools could enforce it, and communicated that to the school board and Parley’s Park Principal Kim Howe before the mandate started.

In an email to Howe Oct. 31, the day before the mandate began, Gildea said students could simply not wear masks, and teachers should “welcome the students to class and keep rolling.”

That same night, she emailed school board president Erin Grady that “even with the mandate in place, there will still be students/staff not wearing them, and there is nothing legally we can do about it.”

According to the Summit County Attorney, Gildea didn’t communicate the district’s perspective on the mandate to the health department until the next day.

During the mandate’s first week, Howe told students over the loudspeaker that they should do what their parents said with respect to wearing a mask.

Even the person answering the school’s phone said wearing a mask was up to each family. That’s according to a parent who did not want to give their name to KPCW but shared a recording of the conversation.

“I called the front office because I was unclear about whether the mask mandate was being enforced or not," the parent said. "And I was aghast that I was told that it was not being enforced and that students were simply to follow parents’ or guardians’ directions and that was it.”

After hearing reports from parents and school staff that the mandate wasn’t being enforced, KPCW contacted Gildea. She first said the school was complying, contradicting a school nurse who told KPCW she had counted 1/4 of those inside the building without masks.

Gildea later told KPCW the messages drawing complaints were likely a remnant from the previous year, and that the principal’s loudspeaker message about parent choice was about bullying kids without masks.

KPCW then asked the county attorney about the mandate not being enforced. County Attorney Margaret Olson checked with the district and said Gildea told her on Thursday afternoon she wasn’t familiar with what was being communicated at Parley’s Park that week.

But more than 1,500 pages of emails obtained through a public records request show Gildea had been communicating specifically about that subject all week — with Principal Howe, Park City’s largest teachers union and parents and employees.

Olson’s office began investigating the district’s handling of the mandate on Nov. 8. She declined to say whether that includes Gildea making false statements to her.

In explaining the district’s position to the health department that first week, Gildea forwarded an email from the district’s lawyer. It cited Utah code that forbids schools from enacting mandates. The lawyer said an argument could be made for schools enforcing a mandate enacted by the health department, but that that was “slicing the onion pretty thin.”

Summit County Health Director Phil Bondurant replied that he disagreed. He reminded Gildea she told him schools would enforce the order, writing that if they didn’t, it’s “nothing more than a suggestion.”

Months later, parents like Walt Wehner remain incensed that legal questions weren’t sorted out before the mandate went into effect.

“It would have been easy to look into in advance and it would have been easy to be like, ‘Oh, we're sorry, we made a mistake,'" he said. "But [the school district] didn't do either of those things. They didn't prepare. And so they did an incompetent job. And then they refuse to take any responsibility for it after the fact, which is kind of the opposite of what I want a school district to teach my kids.”

The emails show the lack of enforcement continued all week, even as the union, parents, school employees and health department all pressed Gildea for compliance.

In one of Howe’s emails that week, she assured Gildea she would continue to message as Gildea guided her to, even after the health department told the schools to enforce the mandate. In that thread, Gildea emailed Howe that under the county order, schools can send unmasked people home. Howe asks if she should do that. Gildea said no.

In another email sent the evening of Nov. 5, Howe wrote to Gildea that she would “give anything” to be able to enforce the mandate but considered that impossible. She forwarded a parent email to Gildea about a child’s classroom exposure, asking Gildea to provide a response for her to send to the family.

The emails include reams of furious communications from families accusing the district of misleading them and putting them at risk by not telling them they weren’t enforcing the mandate.

Parent Bryn Carey contacted the district with concerns at that time — and he’s not satisfied with its response.

“What I can’t understand is why did they put a mask mandate in to begin with if they thought they couldn’t enforce it?" he asked. "And most importantly, why did they hide the decision to not enforce the mask mandate from the parents and the community?

"It took whistleblowers, parents and the media to uncover this. It should have been the superintendent and school board being upfront, honest and over-communicating this with us. 

"We need the truth and someone needs to be held accountable for this.”

Olson has not released results from her investigation. The school district did not respond to request for comment, and hasn’t commented to KPCW since last November, when its lawyer said it wouldn’t engage with the station at least until Olson’s investigation is complete.

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