By KEN CARPENTER
Great Bend Post
GREAT BEND — A controversy over wearing masks took center stage at the Great Bend Chamber of Commerce legislative update last week at the Great Bend Events Center. State Sen. Alicia Straub used the occasion to air her concerns about COVID-19 policies at 4-H events.
4-H summer camps
Straub, an Ellinwood Republican representing the 33rd Senate District, complained about COVID-19 protocols at 4-H camps being held this summer at the Rock Springs Ranch south of Junction City.
"They are still trying to require masks on our children outdoors this summer — the Heart of Kansas 4-H camp," Straub said. "The registration for that camp is still saying that they're going to require kids to wear masks for most activities where they can't maintain 6-foot social distancing."
The Rock Springs Ranch is owned and operated by the Kansas 4-H Foundation, a non-profit group whose mission is to support 4-H and youth development in Kansas.
Jake Worcester, president and CEO of the 4-H Foundation, told the Eagle Radio News Department in Great Bend on Friday that COVID-19 protocols are being revised this month. He explained how the new rules are being developed.
"We follow American Camp Association guidelines. The American Camp Association is our accrediting organization when it comes to our role as a camp," Worcester noted.
He predicted the new policies will be less restrictive.
"We fully anticipate that we aren't going to be asking youth to mask outdoors. The science doesn't seem to support that that's necessary, and that's been our position all along."
Worcester said the 4-H youth will be asked to wear masks in crowded indoor settings at Rock Springs. He said the youth will be assigned to living groups, and will not be asked to mask when they're with those groups.
Straub asked about 30 people attending the Legislative Update to contact the local and state 4-H Extension offices to complain. But according to Worcester, K-State extension does not set the camp rules. He reiterated that the camp is required to follow the national American Camp Association guidelines, and he said those may be loosened even more throughout the course of the summer.
April meeting controversy
Straub also told the audience about a 4-H meeting she attended with her children at a church in Ellinwood on April 5.
"My children and I along with some other parents and their children were kicked out of a 4-H meeting," Straub recalled. "The meeting was called off, and we were all sent home because I, as your state senator, refused to put a mask on and refused to put a mask on my children."
4-H Youth Development is overseen by the K-State Research and Extension Administration. Dr. Gregg Hadley, the director for K-State Extension, acknowledged to Eagle Radio on Friday that mask protocols were still in effect for 4-H meetings on April 5. However, he said those rules have changed since then.
"It was around the beginning of May that Kansas State University adjusted their policy to say that our K-State Research and Extension local units should follow local public health guidelines," Hadley said.
That means that masks have not been required at 4-H gatherings in Barton County since the first week of May. That's because Barton County does not have a mask mandate.
Straub acknowledged that the 4-H policy has changed, but she said local mask guidelines should have been followed sooner.