Kentucky’s Board of Education voted Thursday to approve an emergency regulation that may extend universal masking for K-12 schools into 2022.

The regulation – which is separate from Gov. Andy Beshear’s K-12 mask mandate – will expire “270 days after filing or upon withdrawal by the promulgating agency,” meaning the state’s school board.

Education Commissioner Jason Glass brought the regulation before the Kentucky Board of Education during a special meeting Thursday. He requested that the board move forward with the regulation but revisit its necessity if public health experts relax their guidance around masking at a later date.

The motion won unanimous approval from the board, with board member Patrice McCrary of Bowling Green as one of its most vocal supporters.

She referenced Warren County Public Schools, which opted to reopen its schools last week without universal masking and is now facing hundreds of student quarantines.

“It has been in session for five days now. Masks were optional. Approximately 10% of the students were masked. By day four, we had over 1,000 students in quarantine,” McCrary said. “That’s over 1,000 students who are not able to be in school right now. A mask would have significantly cut that number. Our goal is to get children in school and to keep children in school. Research shows, in the spring, that those masks were effective.”

In Thursday’s meeting, Kentucky Board of Education Chair Lu Young reiterated several times that it is not the board’s intention to keep the mandate in place longer than what is needed.

Before voting in favor of the regulation, Young said she was strongly in support of masking and also conveyed a statement from Kentucky’s Student Voice Team, which is made up of self-selected students from across the commonwealth.

“Without a mask mandate, our districts are more likely to be compelled to move school online or risk further spreading COVID-19 among students, their teachers and their families,” the statement said.

The regulation itself lays several exemptions from the school mask mandate, including children under age 2 and people with disabilities.

In pushing for the emergency regulation, Glass said it essentially revives the masking procedures schools were asked to implement last year, so they should be familiar with how to enforce the regulation.

Still, Glass conveyed a request from school district superintendents that the state board of education table the decision and develop a more decentralized, local approach in partnership with the Kentucky Department for Public Health.

“It is my recommendation to the board that you continue forward” with this regulation, Glass said.

Should districts attempt to flout the regulation, Glass said consequences would vary based on the situation. However, it could put licensure in jeopardy for any educators involved. There could also be closures and consequences for school funding, Glass added.

“We don’t want to use any of these,” Glass said, adding that the best venue for solving disagreements is in court.

The notion of delaying board action drew criticism from Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman, who serves on the board of education as a non-voting member and the governor’s chief education adviser.

“Our hospitalization rates, our ICU rates, our ventilator rates have skyrocketed,” Coleman said. “Nationwide, the COVID infection in kids – in kids – has gone up 80% in two weeks. … When asked ‘Why don’t we delay?’ that blows my mind. We have kids right now who are on ventilators in hospitals and being quarantined, which means they can’t go to school, which is what we want. It also means their parents can’t go to work.”

“Failing to implement a mask requirement, in my opinion, is negligent,” Coleman said. If people want children back in school, able to play sports and parents able to return to work, they should vaccinate and put on a mask, Coleman said.

– Follow education reporter Aaron Mudd on Twitter @NewsByAaron or visit bgdailynews.com.