FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WOWO): A hearing over mask mandates for students in the Northwest Allen County School system turned controversial for one board member after comments he made about choices.
Board Member Steve Bartkus said this according to our Partners in News at ABC-21:
“People have a choice to be gay or straight, right? Some of the craziest things against God’s rules on this earth, we have a choice now. When do the parents get a choice here, and the children get a choice whether this is good for their family or their personal well-being because there’s a lot of families that are psychologically affected with this, physically affected with this. I’m not saying masks don’t work, they do for some cases.”
When ABC-21 asked him to clarify what he meant, Bartkus refused to speak on camera, however said that he is sorry and never intended to offend anyone with his comments. He said he was only trying to emphasize that mask-wearing should be a choice, despite that being a state requirement and not policy of local school boards.
His comments have drawn mixed reactions.
At least one parent has been very vocal and demands that Bartkus resign immediately, saying she doesn’t think Bartkus represents the majority of parents, faculty and staff of Northwest Allen County Schools, and that he doesn’t have a good understanding of the culture or the student body.
Northwest Allen County schools immediately said that the system did not support or agree with this part of what Bartkus said, and then issued this official statement:
“Northwest Allen County Schools provides a healthy and safe learning environment that engages, supports, and challenges each learner regardless disability, economic advantage/disadvantage, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, native language, religion, or condition of health. We remain committed to our mission.”
A local LGBT group, GLSEN Fort Wayne does not want Bartkus to resign, however. AJ Lorenzini is with the organization, and says he hopes this incident leads to dialogue and greater awareness. He said that comments like this can negatively impact LGBTQ students. Lorenzini said he would like to sit down and talk with Bartkus and also said that sexual orientation is not a choice.
Bartkus said he “has a lot of gay friends” and that he “treats them like people, but they have a choice to be that way and act out the way they are”.
He went on to tell ABC-21 that their reporting should “focus on the issue of whether to require face masks in schools”.
2 comments
What he said makes perfect sense to me.i refuse to allow my child to be forced to wear a mask at school
Our school systems need to be flexible in evaluating masks. The data is continuing to be fluid as researchers aggressively and quickly seek the best solutions to containing the virus. It currently remains to be seen if masks are helpful outside. New data appears to show that they may not be required . New data also questions if and how much distance is required outside between individuals to be safe. As more of the population becomes vaccinated the containment parameters will also change. Some very recent research shows that if a person is fully vaccinated that the can not be a carrier of the virus and if this is true the requirement of a mash is not warranted. The CDC continues to put out guidance on these and other virus related issues. It is sad that some school systems and teacher unions are unable to read the CDC guidance and are intellectually unable to understand how to implement the simple directives. Maybe the personnel in our school systems should be required to retake a current science class.