Masks will be optional in Bolton schools starting next week

Feb. 26—BOLTON — The Board of Education on Thursday voted unanimously to make masks optional for most local students after the statewide mask mandate ends Monday.

Students will still be required to wear masks in the nurse's offices of the town's two public schools. Pre-kindergarten students and staff members who work with them will be required to wear masks until a vaccine becomes available for children younger than 5.

The board granted School Superintendent Kristin Heckt authority to re-impose a mask mandate and other protocols in the event of another COVID-19 outbreak.

"I came into this thinking there's no way we were going to make everyone satisfied, whatever the outcome was," board member Christopher Davey said. "But I do feel like we've made a good faith effort to craft a policy that will work for Bolton."

The board took more than an hour to finalize the policy during a special meeting on the mask issue Thursday evening.

"I feel like this is the right thing to do," board Chairman Andrew Broneill said. "We still have the ability to rescind it at a moment's notice ...."

Board member Diana Pagano said that while she's not entirely happy with the provision to require students to wear masks in the nurse's office, "I do feel more comfortable."

Last week, the state Department of Public Health advised local school districts to follow certain community metrics when deciding on COVID-19 mitigation strategies.

Mask use in schools has been a hot button issue for many communities across the state. But at Thursday's meeting, with more than 120 people attending, board members and residents spoke their minds politely and respectfully.

Community members shared mixed opinions about wearing masks in schools. Some people who supported optional mask use said the town should return the power of choice to parents. Others said that low vaccination rates among younger students, and a desire by a majority of Bolton teachers to keep masks in place, were sufficient reasons to require masks in schools.

The local school system recently surveyed parents, students, teachers, and school staff members on masks in schools. Of the 584 people who responded, 72% said masks should be optional, 24% said they should be required, and 4% had no opinion.

But of the 57 teachers surveyed, 35 wanted masks to be required and 20 wanted them to be optional, while two had no opinion.

Mary Welsh, the Bolton Center School nurse, said she thought it was too early to roll back the mask mandate at the school because of low vaccination rates. Some 43% of students ages 5 to 11 are fully vaccinated, compared to 71% of students ages 12-17.

Welsh suggested that the board keep a mask mandate in place until after April vacation. Some other parents agreed.

Resident Janice Kival said she worried about mask shaming and peer pressure among students if masks are made optional.

"Masks have become very political, and they shouldn't be political. They should be about the health," Kival said. "We all want to get back to normal, but the best way to normal is to make sure that the health and the statistics are there."

Of the 23 people who spoke, 17 supported lifting the mask mandate, while six were against it.

Jessica Buchanan, a Windham teacher whose son is a junior at Bolton High School, said Bolton should follow the example of surrounding towns that have made masks optional.

Resident Elissa Nasiatka argued for parent choice in the decision over whether children should wear masks in school.

"Why are schools the only place we still have to fight for mask choice?" she asked. "Apparently it's safe for my child to sit unmasked shoulder-to-shoulder in a restaurant or stadium, but bordering on criminal to do the same at school."

Removing the mask mandate means that, "like education, these policies cannot be one size fits all," Nasiatka said.

Local students also had varied opinions on wearing masks.

"Lifting the mask mandate in our schools would be a mistake with disastrous consequences," said Samantha Sondik. "The sense of safety I feel when I see everyone around me choosing to protect one another has become incredibly important to me."

In arguing for making masks optional, Kylie Kerr, a senior at the local high school, said the facts keep getting blurred by fear.

"We listen to the science when we closed down the schools in March 2020," Kerr said. "Now that the science and state are saying that schools can go mask optional, why should we not listen to the science now?"

Austin Mirmina covers Manchester and Bolton.