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Date: 12/8/2021
LONGMEADOW – The Longmeadow School Committee is discussing the possibility of eliminating masks for vaccinated individuals at the high school level and preschool level.
On Nov. 9, Longmeadow Public School documents showed that over 80 percent of individuals in Longmeadow High School and Longmeadow Central Office School Building have been vaccinated against COVID-19. On Nov. 15, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) confirmed this threshold.
At the Nov. 17 School Committee meeting, mitigation procedures to go about making masks optional at the high school level were discussed.
Superintendent M. Martin O’Shea recommended that they remove the mask mandate for vaccinated staff and students at the high school. Unvaccinated staff and students will still be required to wear masks. According to O’Shea, vaccinated students will only be able to unmask if they are granted specific permission from their parents or caregiver.
Longmeadow High School is now going through a trial period of optional masking from Dec. 6 to Dec. 22. During the time, they will gather data and feedback on health, social, managerial and operational implications of removing masks. Administration will be able to reinstate the mask mandate at any time during this period.
According to O’Shea, there is also a possibility for a reinstatement of masks on Jan. 3 after the holiday break.
He said that students may still choose to wear their mask at any time.
Masking will also still be required on buses, in health offices, per Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) rules during athletics, when choral groups are singing and for any visitors entering the building.
The School Committee also discussed the possibility of unmasking at the preschool level. O’Shea said that, at this time, he recommends preschool students continue to wear masks.
He said that he wants families to have more time to access vaccines for older kids and that unmasking at this age has the potential to create more COVID-19 close contacts who would be subject to Test and Stay or quarantining.
He also said that continuing to have masks at the preschool level is the recommendation of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, the American Academy of Pediatrics and town health officials. O’Shea noted that a majority of parent feedback and staff response has shown that the mask mandate is still wanted.
Despite this, the School Committee voted to approve the removal of masks at the preschool level starting Jan. 6. The vote passed 5-2.
This is not a full mandate, but rather provides parents with a choice to remove masks for their children.
“If conditions change, we can revisit this,” said Chair of the School Committee Kevin Shea.
At the Nov. 30 School Committee Meeting, several parents of preschool students spoke out about this.
Rebecca Powell, teacher at Wolf Swamp Road School, said that she disagrees with this mask recommendation. She also said that 50 other staff members have signed a petition against this at the school.
“We believe that the preschool mask mandate should remain in place until there is a discussion about the mask policy for the entire Wolf Swamp Road School community,” said Powell.
She asked the committee to wait until mid-January to decide on this mask change.
Parent Amanda Berry said she is also not comfortable with the change given that the children are not able to get vaccinated yet.
“We know that they are full of germs and that the masks have been doing a fantastic job at containing transmission,” said Berry.
She asked the committee to wait to remove masks until these children are able to be vaccinated or at least until after the holidays when people are together.
This discussion prompted the committee to rethink their original mask policy.
“I think we can do whatever we would like. So we can have a discussion, we can have a motion, the floor is open for any of that,” said Shea.
The committee also recognized that the original recommendation of administration was to keep masks.
In the end, the committee voted to amend their original motion. The motion for masks at the preschool level now states “move that the School Committee authorize the superintendent to adjust the implementation and/or dates of implementation for the exclusion of ages 2-4 Pre-K students from the revised policy ‘EBCFA- Face Masks’ based on guidance and data relative to public health trends regarding COVID-19.”
For now, Jan. 6, the original date of removing masks at the preschool level, still stands. However, the new amendment gives the superintendent the authority to change the motion or dates of implementation at any time.
This topic will continue to be discussed at future School Committee meetings.
Those interested in watching the meetings in their entirety are encouraged to visit the LongmeadowTV YouTube page.