MONTAGUE — The Gill-Montague Regional School District School Committee voted Tuesday to lift the in-school mask mandate, effective March 21.
Superintendent Brian Beck said this date gives the district three weeks following February break to evaluate COVID-19 case counts and get through parent-teacher conferences being held March 16 and 17. Additionally, Beck said he recommended delaying the decision during the committee’s Feb. 15 meeting so that both towns could vote on their mandates for the general public. Since then, both Montague and Gill have rescinded their mandates effective March 1 and March 9, respectively.
“As I mentioned in a previous meeting,” Beck said, “we didn’t feel like it was responsible, given the data that we had coming out of each break over the last two years.” He explained the data shows COVID-19 cases increasing following school vacations.
Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) Commissioner Jeffrey Riley announced last month that the statewide mask requirement would be lifted Feb. 28, at which point local school districts would have the authority to develop their own policies. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also relaxed its guidance for mask wearing on school buses, though masks are still required on other forms of public transportation.
Gill-Montague’s decision to go mask-optional comes amid Montague’s lowest positive COVID-19 case counts since November 2021. Last week, the town recorded 15 cases, while a season-low 11 cases were recorded the week prior.
School Committee Vice Chair Cassie Damkoehler added there has been “a lot of social-emotional damage that masks have done to our kids, whether we know it or not.”
The decision to lift the mask mandate was not universally supported by committee members, however. Nick Licata reasoned that with warm weather events coming up and vaccination rates for young children being lower than most of the population, a loosening on requirements isn’t the right thing to do.
“I just want to say I am completely against lifting the mask mandate on this timeline,” Licata said. “I think it’s too early.”
Those in attendance at the meeting collectively emphasized the importance of supporting children who might still require or choose to wear a mask to protect at-risk loved ones or themselves.
“We want to make sure everyone is going to respect everyone’s choices after going mask-optional on March 21,” Beck said.
“I have full confidence that our staff and students will understand that people will need masks at times and that’s a good thing,” School Committee Chair Jane Oakes added.
Reach Julian Mendoza at 413-772-0261, ext. 261 or jmendoza@recorder.com.