Shrewsbury School Superintendent Agrees With DESE's Mask Mandate

SHREWSBURY, MA — The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) Board voted 9-1 in favor of requiring that all students, teachers and staff wear face masks indoors in all Commonwealth public schools for at least the first month of the 2021-2022 school year.

The vote authorized DESE Commissioner Jeffrey Riley to institute the mask mandate.

"Given that the Shrewsbury School Committee recently implemented a universal mask mandate for the new school year, the expected new state-level mandate aligns with our district’s approach," said School Superintendent Joe Sawyer.

"The commissioner of education’s stated intent to make the state mandate effective for at least the month of September provides an additional level of certainty for the coming month," Sawyer added.

"The decision that (Riley's) making, which is basically designed to ensure as clean as opening as you could possibly have and deal with any anxiety that people have as they return to school, and to create some serious incentives for middle and high school kids to get vaccinated, is an appropriate response," Gov. Charlie Baker said at a Friday news conference.

DESE member Paymon Rouhanifard, who casted the only no vote, said, "I'm honestly genuinely surprised this is being endorsed by our governor as an incentive for vaccination."

"Tying this masking proposal to vaccination rates is just really bad public policy," Rouhanifard continued. "There's no clear off ramp. It was recently reported that the vaccination for children under the age of 12 will not be approved in 2021.

"A more reasonable off ramp would be tying it to community spread instead of vaccination rate."

Secretary of Education James Peyser said he agrees with the mask mandate because it can ensure having a "smooth opening of school" and this mandate "reinforces the importance of getting all eligible students and staff vaccinated as soon as possible."

"The purpose of the policy is to encourage higher vaccination rates among students and staff and to implement a uniform policy for all schools to begin the year," the commissioner's office said in a statement requesting the authorization vote on Friday.

"The leaders that we have both selected, like our commissioner, and elected, have done exactly what we should want them to do in leading us through this pandemic, which isn't over yet," said DESE member Matt Hills.