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Date: 3/2/2022
HAMPSHIRE COUNTY – School committees across the Hampshire Regional School District have made important decisions regarding mask protocols over the past few weeks.
Early in the month, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) announced that the state would lift its mask mandate on Feb. 28. Committees across the Hampshire Regional School District, however, have elected to institute their own specific protocol regarding masks, all of which involve mask-optional policies.
Reminder Publishing recently reported that the Hampshire Regional School Committee voted 10-2 in favor of ending Hampshire Regional High School’s mask mandate on Feb. 28, thus aligning with DESE’s order after two meetings of deliberation.
“I would strongly support the removal of the mask mandate when the state mandate ends on Feb. 28,” said Hampshire Regional Health Director Stephanie Faas, during the meeting. “The longer we continue with masks the harder it will be to stop. For some, it will be a hard change [but] I worry about, more so, the social emotional learning that isn’t happening. “
Since the Hampshire Regional School Committee meeting, other committees in the district have voted on their own protocols for students and faculty to follow.
According to Hampshire Regional Superintendent Diana Bonneville, the Williamsburg School Committee made a motion to remove the mask mandate on March 21. “On this date, students and staff will no longer be required to wear masks in the building during school hours,” Bonneville told Reminder Publishing.
In place of the mandate, the Anne T. Dunphy School is to adhere to the following protocol: all students and staff are required to bring clean masks every day to school, regardless if they plan on wearing them; voluntary mask wearing is allowed for students and staff; staff will not be responsible for enforcing voluntary mask wearing; and discretion is given to school administration to determine when students and staff are required to wear masks during indoor activities.
Additionally, any visitors or contractors who enter the building during school hours or school events will be required to wear masks.
The motion also states that a mask mandate may be put back into place at any time by the school principal or superintendent if they deem it necessary for the safety of the school community. If this occurs during the school day, students and staff who are not already wearing masks will be required to do so. Families will be notified that the mask mandate is back in place via automated email and phone calls. Any emergency mask mandates enacted by the principal or superintendent will be reviewed by the school committee at their next scheduled meeting. Lastly, the School Committee will review the mask policy at their monthly meetings for the rest of the school year.
Students must also still wear masks on the bus since that is a federal law, and they also must wear them in health offices and/or six to 10 days after testing positive for COVID-19. This applies to all of the committees.
The New Hingham Regional School Committee also voted to make masks optional rather than mandated on March 21, according to Bonneville. Jesse McMillan, the principal for New Hingham Regional Elementary School, was unable to be reached for comment as of press time about whether or not the motion was the exact same as Williamsburg’s.
The Westhampton Elementary School Committee met on Feb. 24 to agree to a similar motion that Williamsburg agreed too. Masks will be optional on March 21, with a few caveats-including-that any emergency mask mandates enacted by the superintendent or principal would be reviewed by the School Committee within 72 hours. Three members voted yes while two abstained.
The William E. Norris School Committee, meanwhile, conducted a joint meeting with the Southampton Board of Health to decide on their own mask policy. The committee, with a vote of 4-1, decided to lift the mask mandate on Feb. 28, despite Faas’ universal recommendation for all committees to institute a mask optional policy on March 21.
“I feel that based on the downward trend we are seeing in COVID cases, our accessibility to surveillance and symptomatic testing, our vaccination rate coupled with natural immunity to recent infection, and the availability of high quality masks that protect the wearer, I would support the decision to remove the mask policy at Norris, and make masking optional for all community members on March 21,” said Faas, who also discouraged the committee from choosing a date before March 7. “While many individuals will embrace this change, there are others who feel anxious or worried about this impending change.”
School Committee member Julianne Tauscher questioned why the committee was not following Faas’ recommendation of March 21. “I’m worried about not holding and jumping too soon,” said Tauscher. “I think we should ease with caution and follow what the other elementary schools and what Stephanie and the administration is recommending.”
Allison Radon, meanwhile, argued that elementary schools all across the region are dropping mask mandates “on a whim,” therefore, Norris is not alone in this process. “I think the fact that we have more testing than we had last year available…it is the right call,” said Radon, speaking on the Feb. 28 date. Tauscher responded by saying she wishes there was a higher pool testing rate.
Committee Chair Jon Lumbra felt it was best to stick with the date and leave it up to what the town’s Board of Health advises. During a meeting on Feb. 22, the Southampton Board of Health elected to drop the town-wide mandate immediately.
Tauscher offered an amendment to change the date to March 21, but no one seconded the motion.