Carmel High School teacher placed on administrative leave following mask-wearing concerns

CARMEL — A week after returning from winter break, Mike Deckelmann, who teaches advanced math courses at Carmel High School, was placed on administrative leave when anonymous complaints from the campus community called his commitment to mask-wearing into question.

Since the start of in-person instruction in the fall, Carmel Unified School District has enforced a universal masking policy across all indoor facilities and sites, particularly underscoring the precaution as the highly transmissible omicron variant complicates the return to school. Cognizant of the safety measures in place, Deckelmann acknowledged issues voiced against him, noting he would occasionally pull down his mask in class to help him breathe. Yet the math teacher still wonders if there was a way to address the problem without stripping students of their instructor.

“I get it, I really do,” said Deneen Guss, Monterey County superintendent of schools. “Can you imagine having to teach through a mask all day long? But that’s the law, and it’s incumbent on us to keep all of our students safe at all times.”

Deckelmann was first warned and reminded of the school’s indoor mask mandate in August. At the outset of the school year, Deckelmann explained that “I probably had my mask down more often than I should have,” as he struggles with asthma and found it difficult to breathe through the mask for an entire school day. Following the first complaint, however, Deckelmann said he was “good as I could be,” adding that he would usually walk outside when a mask break was needed to make sure he was being safe.

But the occasional slip-up still occurred, he continued, where the mask would come down mid-lecture to take a breath or speak a little louder, and a second complaint followed. At this point, Deckelmann said he met with the Carmel Unified superintendent to explore why complaints were still coming forward. He then apologized for any mistakes made and told the superintendent that he would test weekly for COVID-19 to make sure he was fine if the mask came down again. Deckelmann was not notified of any further issues through the end of 2021. It wasn’t until the new term, as COVID-19 case rates and community transmission climbed, that another complaint was submitted.

On Jan. 12, Carmel High placed Deckelmann on administrative leave, unexpectedly taking Deckelmann out of the classroom as an investigation into the matter took place. Deckelmann said he has not resumed teaching and has no timeline of when he would return.

“Is it three strikes and you’re out?” asked Deckelmann. “I didn’t know that was the magic number. … I’ll say they were trying to follow protocols, but what is the clear protocol? What is the process? How can an investigation take two weeks? I’m completely out of the loop.”

Carmel Unified School District said it could not respond to comment because it was a personnel matter.

According to the district’s website, Carmel Unified follows California Department of Public Health COVID-19 guidance. Direction on masks requires they be worn indoors on all district school sites when students are present, including on all buses and areas where physical distancing alone is not sufficient to prevent disease transmission. Carmel Unified also assures in its COVID-19 safety guidelines established for the 2021-22 school year that “staff will teach and reinforce the use of face coverings.”

In regards to pulling masks down, the CDPH states “lowering a mask (i.e., such that it does not full cover the wearer’s nose and mouth) for any reason increases the risk of infection and potentially exposes other persons to COVID-19,” but that “if it must be done, it should be done for brief periods of time, away from other people, and preferably outdoors if possible.”

Sarah Smith, a pediatrician and director of pediatric services at Natividad Medical Center in Salinas, reiterated the dangers posed by removing masks in a classroom, even if brief.

“As far as safety goes, teachers probably need to have their masks up all day,” she said. “With omicron, transmission is so high that anytime an adult or child in the classroom takes off their mask it’s high risk.”

Yet Smith recognized risk and discomfort are not entirely unavoidable when dealing with the pandemic, especially in schools, a reality some of Deckelmann’s students argue is a reason to bring their teacher back.

“I can tell he’s trying his hardest, but sometimes he slips up,” said Oliver Whittaker, a student in Deckelmann’s Advanced Placement (AP) Calculus BC course this year. “Compared to my other teachers, he’s not better or worse.”

Like Whittaker, several previous and current students of Deckelmann’s have spoken out against his removal, ensuring that they do feel safe in his classroom. Hundreds have also signed a Change.org petition asking that the Deckelmann be allowed to return.

“I never felt he was putting me, or any other student, in danger of catching or spreading COVID,” said one Carmel High senior in an email addressed to the Carmel Unified Board of Education.