Wake Republicans reject censure of 2 school board members for mandatory mask vote
The Wake County Republican Party decided not to reprimand two GOP school board members who voted to require that face masks be worn in schools.
Earlier this month, the Wake County school board unanimously approved requiring face masks for the new school year that will start next week for most students as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations surge across the country.
The Wake County Republican Party’s Executive Meeting held a special meeting Monday to consider a motion to censure school board members Karen Carter and Roxie Cash for their part in the face mask vote. Mark Cavaliero, first chair of the Wake County GOP, said the meeting was called “in response to an outpouring of concern from parents and citizens of Wake County,”
“After much thoughtful discussion and debate, the censure motion was not adopted,” Cavaliero said in a statement.
Both Carter and Cash have stood by their votes, saying requiring students to wear face masks will reduce the need for as many children to be quarantined and thus miss in-person instruction. County health officials aren’t requiring as long of a quarantine for students who are exposed to COVID-19 at school if they are wearing a mask.
“In short, my actions and votes are guided by what is best for our students, never by what a political party or special interest group demands,” Carter said in a statement issued Friday. “I will continue to prioritize the health and safety of our students, teachers, and staff in order to continue full time, in-person learning.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called for universal masking of staff and students at all grade levels, regardless of vaccination status. In North Carolina, Gov. Roy Cooper has recommended that school districts follow that recommendation. He has asked them to require the masks but left it up to the 115 districts to make that decision.
Statewide, 68 school districts are requiring face coverings and 47 have made them optional. On Friday, Cooper, a Democrat, sent a letter to school boards asking them to reconsider their decision not to require masks.
All but one of the North Carolina districts that have made masks optional are in counties won by Republican Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election.
GOP endorsed both board members
Republicans at the local, state and national level have opposed requiring students and school employees to wear face masks. Locally, the Wake GOP unsuccessfully had backed a petition “to end the mask mandate” to make them optional in schools.
School board elections in Wake are non-partisan, meaning candidates don’t run in political party primaries.
But both the Wake County Republican Party and the Wake County Democratic Party have historically endorsed school board candidates.
Last fall, the Wake GOP endorsed Carter and Cash. The other seven members of the nine-person school board are all registered Democrats.
“I’m being told we don’t want politics to play a role in this decision,” Cash said in an interview last week. “The fact that they’re upset with me because I’m a Republican and I didn’t vote the way they wanted is confusing.”
Cavaliero said the Wake GOP still wants to work with Carter and Cash.
“The Wake GOP hopes to continue a productive dialogue with Ms. Cash and Ms. Carter to encourage them to effectively push back against the Democrat majority on the school board which seeks to take away parental choice in public education,” Cavaliero said. “As Republicans, we stand squarely with all parents who want to keep their children safe, but reject a one-size-fits-all mask mandate in our public schools.”
The Wake County Republican Party has a history of censuring GOP elected officials who go against the party line. In February, the Wake GOP and the North Carolina Republican Party censured U.S. Sen. Richard Burr for his vote to impeach President Donald Trump for inciting an insurrection related to the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters, The News & Observer previously reported.
This story was originally published August 16, 2021 at 10:03 PM.
