School districts tweak reopening plans again to require full-time mask use

Districts across the region once again are amending reopening plans after the state released additional guidance this week.

Students attending in-person classes are now required to wear face coverings at all times while in school with few exceptions, according to the state education and health departments. The changes are based on the American Academy of Pediatrics, which recommended children two and older wear face coverings to help curb the spread of covid-19.

The mandate expands on guidance released in July that stated a mask must be worn “inside the school and while outside when physical distancing is not feasible.”

Several districts took the guidance as suggesting masks could be removed inside and outside if social distancing was maintained. Now, districts are forced to implement changes to their health and safety plans to reflect the mask mandate.

At Hempfield, reopening plans passed unanimously last week originally stated that students were required to wear face coverings while not socially distanced from others, like in hallways and on school buses. They were permitted to remove masks while at their desks.

“This was disappointing news at this late date,” Superintendent Tammy Wolicki said. “We planned to allow students to remove masks when seated and 6 feet apart, as was permitted in the previous guidelines. This will be a challenge for our students, especially our youngest learners. We anticipate more parents selecting our cyber program, which creates another challenge for us.”

She noted the new mandate does account for some exceptions, including when students are eating and drinking while spaced 6 feet apart, along with 10-minute mask breaks throughout the day.

“It is information we would have preferred to have had several months ago, but we will do our best to incorporate that into our plan, to communicate that to our families and to work to confirm that requirement,” Wolicki said.

The mandate on mask wearing in school has nixed Norwin’s plans to give students a “mask break” during the day, Superintendent Jeff Taylor said. The district had stated in its health and safety plan that students could remove masks if they were socially distant, but that will have to be altered, Taylor said.

“We had no warnings on this one,” Taylor said, as the district prepares to open classes in a hybrid educational model on Aug. 31.

The conversation was similar for Franklin Regional school board members and administrators, who already modified their original reopening plan based on health and safety mandates from the state.

“We all want our kids back in school,” Superintendent Gennaro Piraino said. “As a dad of five kids, I totally get it. But, given the situation, we need to make sure we’re maintaining social distancing and encouraging these protocols.”

The latest issuance from the state also requires districts to supply written documentation to the state education department if a child has a medical condition preventing them from wearing a mask.

“If you have a medical condition that prevents you from wearing a mask, we’ll honor that with documentation, but it’s not going to be a quick, ‘Oh yeah, my kid can’t (wear a mask) because…’” board member Gregg Neavin said. “That’s not an off-the-cuff thing that will be acceptable under this order.”

Franklin Regional school board member Ed Mittereder suggested families — including those whose children may have a medical condition preventing mask wearing — to try face shields his family has been using.

“I think it could really do the right thing for everybody, because it’s not right up against your face,” Mittereder said. “It’s not pressing your nose and it’s also covering your eyes. The masks are very hard to breathe through, but with the face shield, it was a world of difference.”

Updated orders from the state health department on universal face coverings do include the use of a face shield.

Several other districts, including Highlands and Kiski Area, stated in initial guidance that students could remove face masks when socially distanced from other people. Updated plans at Kiski, which were approved this week, reflect the new guidance.

“As you know, the health and safety of Pennsylvania’s school communities is top priority, and the guidance we release to support and maintain the health and safety of school communities is rooted in science, data, and research,” the Highlands School District’s website reads. “As more data and research becomes available, the information that becomes guidance must evolve – something we’ve shared with you since we began releasing reopening guidance.”

Secretary of Health Rachel Levine said the amended mask requirement is what her department intended all along.

“It really is just a clarification of the information that we put out for schools in July,” she said. “But what we have heard is that some of the language wasn’t as clear as it could be. So we wanted to make sure that we are as clear as possible.

“It’s really nothing new, it’s not different from what I’ve been talking about for months and months,” she added, “that everybody should wear a mask when they’re in public and that, of course, includes children in school, and so that’s why we put it out … to make sure that we were crystal clear.”

While children do not appear to be at higher risk for covid-19 than adults, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, the state has recorded 43 cases of children who have developed Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome after being exposed to covid-19, a severe immune response that has been compared to the rare Kawasaki disease, Levine said.

“The idea that children don’t get covid-19 is incorrect,” she said.