Board votes to remove masks outdoors
Students in phys ed classes, recess can drop masks
LANSDALE >> North Penn students got good news Thursday night: the masks can come off when they’re outside.
The school board voted unanimously Thursday night to change their COVID health and safety plan, removing the mask requirement for students at certain times outside, and directing that those classes be held outdoors when possible.
“In this particular motion, it would say that masks would not be required during outdoor recess or during outdoor phys ed classes,” said Superintendent Curt Dietrich.
Since the board voted in March to reduce the amount of distancing in classrooms, talks have continued between the board and its various committees on how to further relax their COVID precautions, as state and county officials pull back too. The updated health and safety plan adopted Thursday night changes only two sentences from earlier versions, noting that “Masks will not be required during outdoor recess or during outdoor physical education classes,” and “Physical education classes will be held outside when possible. Masks will not be required when physical education classes take place outside.”
“There is an opportunity now where it’s been determined that, if there is physical exertion, that it does not depend upon the vaccination status of the individuals, but if there is physical exertion then when that physical exertion is occurring, masks would not be required,” Dietrich said.
“The CDC initially had stated that individuals who are fully vaccinated would not need to wear masks. However, they did clarify a few days later that individuals in school systems ought to finish the school year with indoor masking requirements in place. But outdoors, because of physical exertion, there is an opportu
nity to amend your health and safety plans to permit no masks,” he said.
The plan update was vetted via “extensive conversations” with county health officials, according to the superintendent, “and they concurred with the recommendation.” Board member Wanda Lewis-Campbell asked when the new rule could take effect, and Dietrich said it would do so immediately, taking effect for those in school on Friday.
“We will communicate that to our community, so that everyone is well aware,” he said.
The mask discussion drew a crowd to the board’s first meeting with in-person public attendance in over a year. About 10 moms, mostly members of the Montgomery County chapter of “Moms for Liberty,” held a protest outside the district offices holding signs opposing further masks: “Unmask the children,” “Mask choice for all!”, “It’s not about COVID, it’s all about CONTROL,” “Give children their freedom back! Unmask now!” and more.
That group was led by county co-chair Vicki Flannery, who spoke to the board during public comment sessions both before and after the vote to remove the outdoor mask requirement.
“I think that is a huge step forward in helping our children, and bringing it back to normal for them,” she said.
Other area districts have made similar changes to their rules, and with summer temperatures approaching, removing the mask requirements could help make time outdoors more tolerable, she said.
“North Penn was a leader in bringing our kids back to school, and we need to see them be a leader again in changing the COVID policy for our young children,” Flannery said.
Board member Christian Fusco said he had heard concerns from parents about maintaining the mask requirements in the district middle schools with no air conditioning. Dietrich said leadership at each middle school “take steps to be able to move students into spaces to help mitigate the effect of the heat,” and streaming software and hardware used for virtual instruction over the past year could help.
“If it comes to a point, this later part of the spring, where temperatures are rising, and people want to make an individual decision not to send their children, because of the investment of this board in that streaming equipment, they could do that, and be able to continue through a virtual environment,” Dietrich said.
Board member Jonathan Kassa asked if the county had any requirements or directives that were more strict than those coming from the federal CDC, and
Dietrich explained that the county “did recommend that we continue the year, finish the year out...with the masks in place, indoors.”
Staff are planning to present to the board and public during the board’s June 8 work session on their plans for returning to school in the fall, and could send an additional round of surveys to parents to gauge their comfort levels.
“It’s my hope that we can have everyone back in September,” Dietrich said, for in-person instruction in schools: “it looks real promising for that to happen, but we’re watching this very, very carefully.”
“The last couple weeks in particular, especially I would say the last ten days, have been real encouraging. We’re on the calls with the public health officials, and things seem to be really dramatically improving. It’s looking pretty positive right now, so I’m very hopeful we can have as close as possible to a normal, if you will, September.”
A second vote, held just after the safety plan update to remove the outdoor mask requirement, made a similar change to the district’s “Return to play” plan for outdoor sports and spectators. That update, Dietrich told the board, “would relax the requirements, in terms of spectators at athletic events, who are fully vaccinated.”
“If you are fully vaccinated, at an outdoor event — and our remaining athletic events would be outdoors — the requirement to be masked would not be necessary. It would be for vaccinated individuals,” he said.
Parents sounded off of the mask topic, and the return to in-person instruction, both before and after the votes were cast. Resident Katie Hersh thanked the board for removing the outdoor requirement, but asked the board to act as soon as possible to tell parents what to expect for the fall.
“We are going to start talking about making a plan on June 8. Yet we’ve already asked families to register for kindergarten or first grade,” she said.
“It’s mind-boggling to me how slow this board is to make plans and move forward. I don’t understand how other districts all around us already have planned out and communicated to families, when we haven’t even begun the discussion,” Hersh said.
Jessie Bradica, a candidate currently running for a seat on the school board, said she also knew of other local districts that have already developed fall plans and removed masks outdoors — and said she was wary of board policies requiring testing and/or vaccinations.
“Twice tonight you have mentioned the vaccinated individuals being able to attend sporting events, and vaccinated individuals being able to take off masks, as per the CDC,” she said.
“This board did not follow CDC guidelines last summer, when they closed the schools. They were happy to announce that they acted before the CDC in closing the three-foot gap in the fall,” Bradica said, when the board eased distancing requirements in classrooms.
Parent Katie Strahorn said she’s heard from her children firsthand what those distancing requirements have meant to students: her daughter “sits in an auditorium for an hour and a half, and some days, doesn’t have to turn in work. You don’t go to a job and not turn in work.”
Another parent Strahorn said she knew “had her son supposed to sit for three hours in an auditorium, and just do work. I would just love to know what the board is going to do to hold our teachers accountable, and equip them to be the best that they can be.”
Parent Jason Lanier said his reading of state and county COIVD data showed “no reason why kids should be wearing masks. Kids age zero to 29, in Pennsylvania, there have been zero fatalities. They are not vectors of transmission. They do not carry these viruses.”
“The kids might get sick for a very short period of time, but most likely will be asymptomatic the entire time. And to tie this in with mandatory testing for select sports teams — you’re doing the same thing for kids that want to go to prom — and this isn’t going to make anyone any more safe,” he said.
Parent Lauren Wilson said he child “has flourished” while learning virtually: “she’s had an amazing teacher, amazing support staff, so while I continue to feel for the parents who haven’t had such an opportunity, I do want to shed light that some students are faring well.” Parent Jaszianne Tolbert said she’s a physician and has cared for COVID patients, and said she appreciates “the board taking their time, and using the science, to assess the mask mandates for students in schools.”
“My kids in elementary and middle school are not fully vaccinated, so I applaud the board for what you have done with the safety plan,” she said, adding that “the roll-out has to be slow, and though out carefully.”
Board member Christian Fusco replied to Tolbert that the different ages were on his mind: “The middle school students are just now starting to get vaccinated. And the research has shown they are in an age group that is susceptible to the effects of COVID, more than elementary school (students).”
“We have one month to go, which is really not enough time where we will have a critical mass of the students (vaccinated) in the middle schools. The high school got a little bit of a head start, but we have to keep that in the context as well, and their health and safety,” Fusco said.