Ban on school mask mandates returns with a fervor
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Mar. 5—CONCORD — Nearly four years after New Hampshire declared a COVID-19 state of emergency, the furor over mask mandates in public schools has not abated.
Saying so much more is known about the impact of mask requirements on children, state Rep. Kristin Noble, R-Bedford, has brought back legislation (HB 1093) identical to the bill Gov. Chris Sununu vetoed in 2022 as a violation of local control.
"This bill does not stop anyone from wearing a mask if they choose," Noble told the House Education Committee Tuesday.
While no public schools in New Hampshire have mask mandates, Noble noted that some U.S. college campuses briefly required face coverings last fall after a late summer resurgence of the virus.
"Parents will be able to decide whether to mask their children. I think this is a huge step towards building trust for parents," Noble said.
Mask-mandate opponents referred to reports about how student learning suffered during the pandemic. Some children developed anxiety, depression and other emotional problems linked to wearing masks, they said.
"I don't know how we can deny that there is reasonable doubt about masks," said Rep. Arlene Quartiello, R-Atkinson, a co-sponsor of the bill.
The first case of COVID-19 in New Hampshire was recorded on March 2, 2020. Eleven days later, Sununu signed his first declaration of a state of emergency that included a ban on public gatherings of more than 50 people.
Barrett Christina, executive director of the New Hampshire School Boards Association, said the legislation would punish local school boards that followed the advice of state public health and education administrators after the outbreak of the pandemic.
Sununu's mask mandates specifically exempted public schools from the requirement, leaving it up to local boards to set their own policies.
In the summer of 2021, state health and education officials issued revised guidance about face coverings in schools.
The advice urged school officials to allow for "flexibility" from the requirement and to consider allowing children at times to take their masks off.
"Local school boards were developing their policies about masking, based on the guidance that the professionals were telling us," Christina said.
"Nobody wanted to wear a mask. We understood the challenge it was having with little kids all day long trying to wear a mask," he said. "We are addressing something that hasn't been in place for two-plus years."
Reasons for opposition vary
Terese Grinnell Bastarache of Loudon, an anti-vaccine mandate activist, said her two adopted sons struggled with having to wear masks while in school, especially her older son, who chewed on his mask and developed a nervous tic from the experience.
"In the last eight months that problem for him has just vanished," she said.
Rep. Kelley Potenza, R-Rochester, urged lawmakers to pass this bill.
"We can never do this again — no bureaucrat, no school board, no teacher, none of it," Potenza said. "I have control over my child and their upbringing, and no one should override that."
The New Hampshire State Advisory Committee on the Education of Children/Students with Disabilities urged the House to kill the bill.
"Students with disabilities may be required to mask in order to attend school for medical reasons," wrote Karen Stokes, chair of the committee.
"If it is in their individualized educational plan (IEPs)... and the state has made it illegal, children may need to be placed out of state at a significant expense to each district."
In May 2022, Sununu said the legislation violated the state's tradition of allowing local boards to set policies for their schools.
"Just because we may not like a local decision, does not mean we should remove their authority. One of the state's foremost responsibilities is to know the limits of its power. As Granite Staters, we take pride in local control and our bottom-up approach to education," Sununu wrote in his veto message.
"Similar to our fight to retain states' rights against a bloated and ever-encroaching federal government, we have a responsibility to ensure the state minimizes its infringement on local control. Big government is never the solution, and neither is a one-size-fits-all approach."
In 2022, the GOP-led House narrowly passed the mandate, ban 166-157. The state Senate voted along party lines for it, 14-10, with all Republicans in support and all Democrats opposed.
A move by House GOP leaders to override Sununu's veto was voted down 170-150, far short of the two-thirds required to overcome a governor's opposition.
