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By Laura Hayes Senior Community Reporter SHREWSBURY - Masks are no longer be required in Shrewsbury schools.
This comes after a pair of votes by the Board of Health on March 4 and by the School Committee on March 2 to rescind their mask mandates.
The change goes into effect immediately.
Board of Health member George Abraham said he reviewed recent data, including rates of positive COVID-19 cases and wastewater sampling information.
“Both of them show consistently low levels with no evidence of surges,” he said.
School Committee votes
The Board of Health and School Committee previously discussed lifting these mask mandates last month.
However, at that time, they opted to wait to make a decision until after the recent February vacation, noting previous spikes in cases following past vacation weeks.
“I am glad that this committee had waited, given our history of seeing spikes in cases after vacations,” School Committee member Jason Palitsch said. “Having said that, I am also glad that we did not see a spike in cases after February break.”
The School Committee voted unanimously to lift the mandate earlier last week.
Key metrics show positive signs
Superintendent Joseph Sawyer specifically reported a reduction in cases prior to that vote. There were 11 cases among students and staff between Feb. 26 and March 2. In comparison, there were 23 cases in the week before the February vacation.
There were five cases reported during vacation.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated its guidance regarding masking in schools since that meeting in February when leaders opted to delay their decision, Sawyer said.
That guidance recommended that masks be optional in schools unless a school is in a location deemed as high risk. The CDC also recommends masks in districts with strained health care resources.
Worcester County, Sawyer reported, was assessed to be at medium risk. These metrics “signal that optional masking seems highly unlikely to create a significant risk of COVID-19 transmission in our schools,” Sawyer said. “I do certainly want to mention that we know that this is not without risk,” Sawyer continued. “There’s always a level of risk around communicable disease, and we don’t know exactly, of course, how things will go when it comes to whether it’s COVID or anything else in terms of spread.”
Masks will still be required in nurses offices and for five days after people return from isolation due to COVID-19.
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District discusses process of reimplementing mask mandate, if needed
In terms of reimplementing the mandate in the future, the school district recommended a
policy that would have Sawyer monitor any communications about public health. Similar to a plan laid out by the Public Schools of Northborough and Southborough, Shrewsbury plans to monitor student attendance as a barometer of COVID-19’s presence in schools. Students wore masks at the new Beal Elementary School in Shrewsbury last fall. If attendance drops below an average of 92% for the district or at a school over 10 days, Sawyer will consult with the district’s and local medical professionals. If there are concerns, he would be able to implement a temporary mask requirement until the School Committee can convene and vote. “It’s going to be extremely important that if and when masking becomes optional for students and staff in our schools, that our district and our school leaders convey that everyone is expected to respect the choices that are made by each individual regarding whether to wear a mask at school,” Sawyer said. The School Committee unanimously approved these requirements. Westborough receives grant for LED lights at Mill Pond School
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By Laura Hayes Senior Community Reporter WESTBOROUGH - The Department of Energy Resources Green Communities Division has awarded Westborough a $200,000 grant for an LED lighting program at Mill Pond Elementary School.
Westborough Superintendent Amber Bock announced the award during a Feb. 16 School Committee meeting.
“I’m very excited…” Bock said. “I think it’s the start of a really strong collaboration with the town on getting these initiatives in place.”
The Green Communities Division provides support, including through grants, to help municipalities reduce their energy use and costs through clean energy projects like this Mill Pond project, according to its website.
Westborough is one of the communities in the state that has been designated as a green community.
According to Green Community Division’s website, the project will fund energy conservation measures such as LED lighting.
Westborough has received other grants in the past, most recently getting $146,514 in 2020 for LED lighting and the purchase of a hybrid vehicle.
Bock said that the group Sustainable Westborough helped begin the grant process and handed off this latest application to the district.
“This is a very vibrant town,” Bock said. “This is a town where we’re ahead of the curves on a lot of this and we’re in the fold with some very high-performing communities to be caring about the environment, the world, the direction of our work and being willing to do the big planning that it takes to make some of these changes.”
Bock said the project is moving forward to go out to bid.
By Laura Hayes, Ben Domaingue NORTHBOROUGH/SOUTHBOROUGH - Students in Northborough and Southborough elementary schools are no longer required to wear masks effective as of March 3.
The Northborough and Southborough School Committees previously voted in a joint meeting last month to lift the mask mandate for elementary students on March 14.
Just over two weeks later, though, the committees met again on March 2 and opted to make this change. The decision also lifts the mask requirement while on school buses.
“I think the strongest point we had when we voted last time was to be in coincidence with the bus mandate at the federal level, which has already been lifted,” said Northborough School Committee member Erin Tagliaferri.
“Personally, I think we’ve talked about this enough,” she continued. “It’s only seven school days that we’re changing this by. So, I think it’s important to approve it and move on with our agenda.”
School officials discuss new guidelines, data
Superintendent Greg Martineau said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has changed its criteria for when masks can be removed in schools since the committees’ February meeting.
“As a result, according to CDC guidelines, masks would be removed in elementary schools, based on their criteria,” Martineau said.
Additionally, the district now has data regarding the number of COVID-19 cases following the February vacation.
There were eight total cases across all Northborough and Southborough schools, including the high school, between Feb. 24 and March 2.
“If we had this information on Feb. 17, we probably would not be having this discussion,” Director of Wellness Mary Ellen Duggan said. “But since we seem to get all of our information after the fact, after we’ve made decisions, we need to be a little flexible here.”
Medical advisory team met to review change
The district’s medical advisory team met the prior day to discuss changing the date to lift
PHOTO/LAURA HAYES Esther Valverde Collado leads BINGO at Neary Elementary School. Elementary students are no longer required to wear masks.
the mandate. Martineau said they supported this change.
He noted that families still have the option to have their students wear masks.
“Many of our educators will remain masked,” he said.
“For those families, who feel like their children are ready to unmask, it would give them the flexibility,” he continued, though.
Masks will still be required in health offices. Those returning from a shortened five-day COVID-19 quarantine or isolation will also need to wear masks for the first five days after they return to school.
Teachers will not police masking in their classrooms, Martineau said.
Northborough Chair Lauren Bailey-Jones, who is a teacher in another district and whose students have been able to unmask this past week, said her middle school students have been very respectful.
“One thing that I think really helped is I told my students sort of what my masking options were going to be and how I was going to operate in the classroom,” she said.
She had told them that she would be masked when working closely with another student. In one instance, an unmasked student came to work with Bailey-Jones at her desk and put his mask on.
“He was just really respectful and he put it on,” Bailey-Jones said. “There’s so much respect in our kids.…I was just very pleasantly surprised by the middle school students, and I do think it’s really going to be a great change.”
‘I don’t think there’s any perfect time’
Speaking with the Southborough School Committee, Martineau said the schools should “seize the opportunity.”
“We don’t know what the future holds, if there’s another variant on the horizon,” he said. “If we can provide this opportunity to lift masking, it’s in the best interest of students.”
Southborough School Committee Chair Roger Challen expressed concerns about informing the community on such short notice. Martineau attempted to alleviate Challen’s concerns.
“I don’t think there’s any perfect time,” he said, adding, “I think students will come to school masked tomorrow even if the requirement is lifted.”
Other members of the committee cited high vaccination data and current recommendations from the state and federal governments.
“Every school except Neary has high vaccinations,” said committee member Kamali O’Meally. “This is the first time since the start of 2020 when all of the institutions and governing bodies are lining up [on recommendations].”
Other Northborough and Southborough schools, including Trottier and Melican middle schools and Algonquin Regional High School were able to lift their masks beginning on Feb. 28.
Martineau said one out of every three students are still wearing their masks at those schools.
“It’s gone very well and students have been very respectful,” Martineau said.
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