But a mandate could be imposed if surge impacts public schools
By Ed Nadolski
Editor in Chief
Masks will be optional to start the school year in the Burlington Area School District, but administrators will have the discretion to mandate them should pandemic conditions worsen and threaten the district’s ability to hold in-person classes, officials decided Tuesday.
The 5-2 vote by the School Board in favor of a mask-optional start to classes for staff and students came eight days after the matter was originally scheduled to be discussed and decided by the board. That meeting was adjourned by the board, however, after an hour-long public comments period ended and several anti-mask advocates became unruly and demanded the board continue the hearing.
Public comments weren’t allowed at Tuesday’s meeting, but the topic produced its share of impassioned, but civil debate among the board members as it played out before a crowd of about 50 in the Burlington High School auditorium.
“This is really a very difficult decision,” Board President Peter Turke said as he summed up his feelings before the vote. He likened it to a choice between “the lesser of two bad options.”
Those choices: Require masks for all students and staff to start the school year; or make them optional for those who object to wearing a mask for a variety of reasons.
Tuesday’s board discussion was similar to the debate playing out before school boards across the state as people argue the merits masks have in mitigating spread of a deadly virus vs. a mandate that many believe infringes on the perceived right of parents to make choices for themselves and their children.
Back-to-school plan
The meeting began with a slideshow presentation by Superintendent Stephen Plank on the district’s coronavirus mitigation plan and the recommendation from administrators to make masks optional initially.
He said the district continues to offer a layered approach to COVID mitigation, including wearing masks by choice.
Plank said the district plans to monitor the COVID-19 situation on a daily basis with regular input from local and state health departments. However, he said, the district doesn’t have a specific benchmark that would trigger a mask mandate.
The best indicator of the district’s ability to continue in-person learning, he said, is the number of staff and student absences.
“We recognize this hasn’t been easy on our students and staff,” Plank said. “Obviously we want to create a situation where students can thrive.”
Read the district’s full back-to-school plan at the following link: BASD Return to School COVID Plan
To read the full story from Tuesday’s meeting, including more on the debate among board members, see the Aug. 19 edition of the Burlington Standard Press.
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