New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Mask wearing not the albatross school officials thought it would be
“I know that they protect me from COVID-19 and it creates a safe environment for me and my fellow classmates to work in.” Dante Dicks, Harding High School junior
Dante Dicks, a junior at Harding High School in Bridgeport, wouldn’t call himself a fan of wearing a face mask.
They are a bit uncomfortable, Dicks concedes.
“But I’m fine with it,” he quickly adds in a direct message to a reporter’s question. “I know that they protect me from COVID-19 and it creates a safe environment for me and my fellow classmates to work in.”
With some exceptions, that seems to be the sentiment of students returning to socially distant classrooms across the region.
A Hartford superior court case notwithstanding, mask wearing has been called part of the price of returning to the classroom as long as the pandemic is a threat.
In Hartford, Judge Thomas G. Moukawsher has been asked to weigh in on the legality of requiring students to wear masks. A lawsuit filed on behalf of parents in Manchester, Wallingford, Niantic, Marlborough and Farmington argues that the state lacks the authority to create the mandate and is violating the constitutional rights of students by imposing it. Oral arguments began in the case last week.
State school reopening guidance directed all schools to adopt policies requiring the use of face coverings for all students, ages 3 and up, and staff when they are inside any school building. It further directs districts to be prepared to provide a face covering to any student or staff member who does not bring one with them to the school on any given day and be prepared to deny entry to individuals who arrive at school without a face covering.
The directive calls the wearing of face coverings one of the most important strategies to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in school populations.
It is not out of line with what other states have done. Staff and/ or students must also wear masks in Alaska, California, Main, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, Ohio, Utah and Washington.
Some bus drivers frustrated
The state’s mask mandate ex
tends to outdoors in instances where there is outdoor instruction, extracurricular activities, during the daily admission and dismissal process and on school buses.
In Trumbull, where school bus drivers are engaged with a contract battle with Durham Bus Company, drivers and monitors on three routes have reported issues with students who either pull their masks down once they get on the school bus or refuse to wear them getting on, union officials said.
“A lot of kids think it’s a joke,” said Lydia Hernandez, a school bus monitor and shop steward in Trumbull. Hernandez said one school bus driver headed to a Trumbull middle school on Thursday, literally had to pull the bus over when a large group of students pulled down their masks.
The driver’s recourse, Hernandez said, was to write the kids up.
“Then nothing happens,” alleged Mustafa Salahuddin, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1336, which represents Trumbull school bus drivers.
Jonathan Budd, an assistant superintendent in Trumbull said the district has talked to all principals and that none have reported any issues with face masks, including reports that they are not being worn on school buses.
“To be proactive, both principals continue to remind students
and parents in various formats about the importance of maskwearing,” Budd said.
Salahuddin said the union has requested all drivers be equipped with face shields. So far only three drivers have received them, he added.
“Even then I feel for the other kids (on the bus),” Salahuddin said.
The buses are not at full capacity but there are enough coughs and sneezes to make drivers worry, the union head said.
“The only ventilation is cracking windows. ... When temperature drops, someone is going to get sick,” he said.
In Bridgeport, Schools Superintendent Michael Testani told his board he has heard of only one or two small incidents with students not wearing masks on school buses and that the district is working with those families.
Superintendents report overall compliance
Before schools reopened this fall, there was some concern in Connecticut that students, especially young ones, would not tolerate wearing masks for a full school day. Some parents cited that fear in opting for remote learning instead of in-school instruction.
State Department of Education officials point out that their directive calls for mask breaks and allows for medical exemptions.
The department is not keeping track of who is following the rules and who is not.
Some local districts are.
School chiefs from around the region report general compliance with the mandate.
“The kids are so compliant,” Bethel Superintendent Christine Carver said.
School board policy states that students and staff would face disciplinary action if they refused to wear masks, but Carver said so far, they have not had a problem of students refusing to wear them.
In Shelton, Interim Schools Superintendent Beth Smith said she has schools tracking compliance with all mitigation strategies, including mask wearing over the nose and mouth.
Most schools, Smith said, have reported 100 percent compliance.
“There are few exceptions where principals have recorded 95 or 98 percent,” Smith said. “To my knowledge there have been no disciplinary consequences due to mask wearing. Most times a simple reminder suffices.”
Shelton allows accommodations to mask wearing for students after a verification process and notes from their medical providers.
In some cases that amounts to additional mask breaks instead of a license to go mask-free.
In Fairfield, the school system recently surveyed all of its schools on mitigation strategies and reported strong evidence of compliance across all grades, and among staff, said Andrea Clark, a district spokeswoman.
Clark said it helps that at the elementary level, students are on a half-day schedule and need to be in school and wearing a mask for only three hours daily.
Very few students qualify for the medical exemption based on state guidance, Clark added.
In Stratford, Schools Superintendent Janet Robinson said time spent outlining the mask-wearing requirement at the beginning of the year appears to have paid off.
“Students and staff are adhering to the mask requirement quite well,” Robinson said “We have not authorized any exemptions, and have only had one student who refused to wear a mask who was then sent home.”
Stratford handed out two cloth masks to every student and has disposable masks on hand should they forget or misplace theirs during a mask break.
Greenwich, too, has a supply of disposable face masks at each school in case a student shows up without one.
“As a district, we are very proud of how our students and staff have been wearing their masks and following the safety protocols in place,” Greenwich Superintendent Toni Jones said.
In Bridgeport, Testani told his school board the mask mandate has been extremely successful, based on staff feedback and his own observations.
“Prior to opening people were saying there is no way our kids can’t do this,” the superintendent said last week. “They come to school, they wear the mask. ... They understand the importance. They follow the rules.”
Some Bridgeport teachers, however, said some students still need to reminded to wear masks correctly.
“Pre-K through 8 (there are) many noses hanging out and unmasked parents picking up students,” said one teacher who asked not to be identified.
“General rule is: the younger they are, the harder it is to maintain the rule,” the teacher said.
In Ansonia, Schools Superintendent Joseph DiBacco said students are doing an exceptional job with mask wearing.
“I am not aware of any students needing exemptions or students being defiant. ... Knock on wood,” DiBacco said.
To help in the effort, Ansonia purchased masks with the district’s Charger logo, for both staff and students, DiBacco said.
Masks that are not allowed
In some districts, while masks are required, they can’t be used as a platform to express opinions.