Tempers flare on mask wearing at New Canaan Board of Education meeting.
NEW CANAAN — While mask mandates have been set in place for Connecticut schools for at least the first month of the academic year, according to an executive order by Gov. Ned Lamont, a sect of New Canaan parents recently made their voices heard in opposition to the measure.
Parent Amanda Morgan, whose children do not currently attend the district’s schools, voiced her displeasure with the mandate during Monday’s Board of Education meeting.
Morgan, who contended she spoke on behalf of others who “share my sentiments in our town and county, but are too afraid to speak out of because of fear of judgment,” added that the question of wearing masks “has become a politically charged argument.”
She also classified mask wearing an “inhumane practice of virtue signaling.”
While her children do not currently go to a school in the district, she said she plans for her preschool-age kids to attend New Canaan schools in the future.
Morgan was just one of a dozen parents who spoke on the topic at the school board meeting Monday, where tempers flared at times and opinions were split evenly — with six speakers in favor of children wearing masks to school and six opposed.
Parents on both sides, however, said it was their responsibility to protect their children.
“This woman (Morgan) and other people are misleading other people,” said Rita Bettino. “We all need to be aware of the gaslighting and misinformation that is online. I feel bad for people who were misled.”
Bettino said she felt compelled to speak out “after a number of folks esteemed themselves better experts than doctors or scientists, because of the research they have done on Google,” she said.
Parent Lauren Wingent said the announcement sent out by Superintendent Bryan Luizzi in early August regarding mask wearing “raised some eyebrows.”
In that announcement, Luizzi told parents that masks were mandatory at least until Sept. 30, a guidance that fell in line with Lamont’s executive order.
“You’re a very intelligent man and you probably read that research and data,” Wingent told Luizzi. “We have to move on and we have to accept living with it just as another risk.”
Parent Yolanda Gjuraj agreed, adding it was hard for her daughter to wear a mask throughout the length of a school day.
Meanwhile, Janet Fonss, another district parent, spoke in favor of mask wearing in the schools.
“We are a caring community and we watch out for each other and this is what makes New Canaan great,” she said. “We have to follow the science.”
Susan Grill, a parent who said she was scientist who had worked for 16 years on cellular and molecular projects at Brown University, Yale University and MIT, said that she was “so impressed with what the school system has done.”
Grill said she hopes the mitigation practices keep children who are under 12 safe until a COVID-19 vaccine is available for them.
“The pandemic mitagations make sense because the transmissibility of the delta is much higher,” than the earlier strain, she said.
Fatou Niang, who is running for a Board of Education seat this year, urged the attendees to “stick to the facts and stick to the recommendations.”