Board Of Ed Hearing On School Mask Mandate Gets Heated: Report

BRANFORD, CT — The Branford board of education has not yet announced whether it will extend a mask mandate in its schools beyond the end of the month — and a recent public hearing on the issue got heated, WTNH reported.

Parents and students on both sides of the debate voiced their opinions at Francis Walsh Intermediate School on Wednesday night, where a total of 88 people signed up for public comment, the TV station said.

"Taking the mask off now would benefit them tremendously," said parent Ralph Ricciardelli, according to WTNH. "They're just suffering from this thing."

But another person argued that the board should keep the mandate through the end of the school year and implored officials to put protocols in place that would leave an option to reinstate it if COVID numbers were to rise again, the TV station said.

Gov. Ned Lamont announced on Feb. 7 that Connecticut will lift its school mask mandate beginning March 1, allowing individual school districts to decide whether they want to continue requiring face coverings.

Read WTNH's report here.