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Date: 12/22/2021
LONGMEADOW – Longmeadow High School (LHS) students and staff are once again required to wear a mask in school buildings. On Dec. 17, Longmeadow Public Schools Superintendent M. Martin O’Shea announced that the high school would once again be enforcing a mask mandate that had been previously suspended on a trial basis. The mask mandate was put back in place starting Dec. 20.
On Dec. 1, Longmeadow High School began allowing vaccinated individuals to go maskless. The school was eligible for this as it had reached the 80 percent vaccinated threshold laid out by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The reinstatement announcement came with one week left in the trial period.
“Given the uncertainty relating to the latest COVID [-19] variation and regional increases in COVID [-19] cases even among teens, it is prudent to reinstate the mask mandate,” O’Shea said in the statement. The mandate will remain in effect after schools reopen on Jan. 3.
“Over the break and into the first week of January, we will assess public health data and trends to determine when or if the differentiated approach to masking will be reinstated,” O’Shea said.
O’Shea called the mask-less trial period “a success” and LHS Principal Tom Landers said, “the pilot was going well, and students were helpful and respectful.”
As of the announcement, only one active case had had been reported at LHS and O’Shea said there was “no evidence of in-school transmission.” Rather, he said, the move to re-mask was a proactive, cautionary measure. The trial was run at no other schools in the district and their mask mandates have remained in effect.