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Date: 8/18/2021
EAST LONGMEADOW – The East Longmeadow School Committee voted unanimously to adopt the masking recommendations from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), but came short of imposing a mask mandate in the district.
DESE released guidance on July 31 stating its “strong recommendation” that students in kindergarten through sixth grade be masked inside schools. For unvaccinated students in grades 7 and up, as well as unvaccinated staff in all grades and unvaccinated visitors, masks are also recommended while inside. There is no recommendation for vaccinated students in middle and high school to wear masks. Superintendent Gordon Smith said the guidelines are likely not the last districts will hear from DESE on the subject.
The Massachusetts Association of School Committees recommended the adoption of a face covering mandate and the governor’s administration requires passengers and drivers to wear masks on public transportation, including school buses.
At its Aug. 13 meeting, the School Committee heard from School Physician Dr. Greer Clarke and Nursing Supervisor Kelly LaBombard, who both recommended a universal mask mandate.
“There’s a lot more exposure because kids are not staying home like last summer,” Clarke said. She added that people are vacationing and largely have gone back to work, increasing contact with others. She has seen an increase in the number of children being hospitalized with COVID-19 and at younger ages.
“Although children are less affected by [COVID-19], they are still affected and they still have bad secondary disease or bad primary disease, just not at the rate adults are having it,” Clarke informed the committee.
LaBombard recommended a K-12 mask mandate “until we know when the younger children are going to be vaccinated,” or cases decrease. Clarke agreed, saying that many local areas are mandating masks and Gov. Charlie Baker’s decision not to is “a very political thing.”
“Should we all be masked going into restaurants, too? I mean is that the recommendation, any time we’re in public,” committee member Gregory Thompson asked. Clarke confirmed that, saying “The recommendation is strongly now that we mask while we’re inside, vaccinated and unvaccinated, as well.”
Clarke told the committee, “I think it’s easier to start where we want to be than to backtrack, and any kindergarten or high school teacher will tell you, you’ve got to set the rule down early in order for people to follow it.”
Another reason Clarke pushed for a universal position on masks is to avoid outing students who are not vaccinated, as those would be the kids wearing masks, but Thompson pushed back on that point, opining that many families will want their vaccinated children to wear masks. Clarke pointed out that it would create work for teachers and nurses to stay on top of students whose caregivers want them masked.
Despite the recommendations from the two medical personnel, the committee was hesitant to mandate masks. School Committee member Elizabeth Marsian-Boucher said while she respected the state Department of Public Health, (DPH), she doesn’t agree with them on masking. She also recalled students sweating profusely last school year while wearing masks in warm weather. Clarke said air conditioning in all classrooms would help with that.
School Committee Chair Sarah Truoiolo noted that children could be exposed outside of school, regardless of an in-school mandate.
Several committee members noted that they weren’t necessarily against masks. Thompson emphasized the guideline from DESE stating, “Any child or family who prefers to mask at school should be supported in this choice.” He also said students should be encouraged to bring a mask to school in case they find themselves in a situation where one is needed. Truoiolo said that students can be taught the routine of putting on masks despite not being required to wear one all day. Smith noted that other precautions, such as hand sanitizer, will be in place.
Thompson asked how lunches should be structured, as that is one of the times that masks cannot be worn. LaBombard recommended using outdoor spaces as much as possible. Vice Chair William Fonseca made the point that having some classes eat outside will ease the stress on the cafeteria and Truoiolo noted that the elementary schools still have tents that were used for this purpose last year.
Thompson said that if possible, students should be seated 6 feet apart when eating. Smith told him that would be “challenging.” Even with four lunch periods, 6 feet is not possible, he said. Thompson then posed the question of risk of transmission when unmasked at 3 feet of distance versus 6 feet to Clarke.
“I think 6 feet is always going to be better,” Clarke said. She noted that the high school students are at less risk because more of them are vaccinated. “I think there’s always a risk, it’s just less if they’re vaccinated,” she later added.
For elementary grades, she recommended maximizing the number of lunch periods, but Smith responded that schools are already “pushed to the extent possible” in terms of the number of lunch periods, physical space to spread students out and furniture to seat them. He emphasized that the administration did not want students eating in classrooms this school year.
Marsian-Boucher asked if fans could be arranged at the entrance and exit of cafeterias to create airflow, but Clarke informed her that a wind-tunnel effect would aerosolize the virus, making it easier to spread. Using a fan to exhaust the air would be fine, though.
Briefly touching on the topic of testing students for the virus, Marsian-Boucher asked Clarke if rapid tests give false positives. Clarke told her they sometimes do, but while not as reliable as the 48-hour tests, hospitals have begun to use them to screen patients.
Marsian-Boucher followed up with a question about antibodies and how long people are immune after an infection. Clarke explained that those who have been infected have a three-month window in which they are not required to quarantine if exposed, provided they have no symptoms. She stressed that individuals make antibodies at different rates, so there is no firm time frame.
Similarly, LaBombard said, if someone in a school has previously tested positive and they are exposed again, they are not considered a close contact unless they show symptoms. The same goes for vaccinated people. Close contacts are tested on the fifth day after exposure and, if negative, allowed to return to school on day eight. LaBombard is asking parents to be vigilant about keeping schools informed of out-of-school exposures and even mild symptoms.
In regard to students testing positive for the coronavirus, Smith said it was not an “if,” but a “when.”
“We know that we’ll be quarantining and we’re preparing to support students when that happens, as well as staff when that happens,” he said. Smith explained that cases of COVID-19 in East Longmeadow are on the rise, with 41 cases in the two-week period ending Aug. 7, up from 26 cases in the previous 14-day period. The most recent data on the vaccination rate in town among 16- to 19-year-olds was 65 percent, while 47 percent of 12- to 15-year-olds were vaccinated. Smith noted that the figures were two weeks old.
LaBombard said there had been one case of COVID-19 during summer school and one close contact who later tested positive. Smith noted the class sizes were small, with no more than eight students per room. Masks had been “strongly recommended” but not required during summer school.
During the public comment period, resident Justin McCarthy told the committee that he was opposed to masking, testing for the coronavirus and vaccine clinics. He said if parents have “an active, social child, most of the parents I know have not had problems with [COVID-19] with their kids.”
McCarthy made the argument that testing with a nasal swab is a burden for children but then said that if the district planned to test students, they should test both vaccinated and unvaccinated children, due to the existence of breakthrough infections. He noted that parents and guardians have the legal right to refuse testing for their child, which Smith confirmed.
In the end, the committee unanimously agreed not to institute testing in the district. As Fonseca commented, “We’re not doctors.” The possibility of a mask mandate will be revisited in September as conditions change.
Editor’s note: Since the Aug. 13 vote, a www.change.org petition was started to urge the School Committee to change its decision. As of press time, 433 people had signed the petition.