Walpole School Committee Votes 4-3 To Lift Mask Manadate At WHS

WALPOLE, MA - At its meeting Thursday, the Walpole School Committee narrowly voted 4-3 to allow Walpole High School to lift the mask mandate for vaccinated students and staff once the town's COVID-19 positivity rate reaches 3%.

The vote came after nearly an hour of debate on the topic, which focused on whether the town's positivity rate should be factored into the decision, as well as what the set rate would be. Parental responsibility was also countered by the school system's duty to keep schools open.

Walpole High School recently reached an 80 percent vaccination rate for students and staff, which allowed it to be considered for a mask offramping policy by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). Walpole accepted the DESE's approval but has not yet implemented a mask-optional policy for vaccinated staff and students because of the wave of cases of the omicron variant that as swept across the state and the country. As of last week, the WHS vaccination rate was 84%.

Superintendent Bridget Gough told the committee that in the week prior to the meeting, the district had 118 positive cases, down from 201 the week before.

"I don't think I've ever been pleased to say we're happy to see 100 cases where before there were so little," she said. "But we're moving in the right direction, so that is great news."

Last week, the town's positivity rating was 20.59%, down from 23.78%, according to Gough.

The discussion about implementing the mask offramping policy began after Gough explained DESE's new policy to discontinue the Test and Stay program. The districts who have partcipated in Test and Stay can opt into a new program to allow students and staff to receive two I Health rapid antigen COVID-19 test kits every two weeks with the understanding that one test will be used per week. They can receive the tests regardless of vaccination status.

Once the program is implemented, school nurses will test those who are symptomatic or are immunocompromised on an individual basis.

Both the Johnson and Bird middle schools are at 65%, while the elementary school rates hovered in the 50% range.

School Committee President Bill Buckley noted that there are "overlapping areas of jurisdiction" between DESE and the town's Board of Health, which asked at the last meeting that the School Committee delay implementing the waiver because of the surge until the town's rate reached 3%.

Member Jennifer Geosits expressed 3% as being an arbitrary number that may not be attainable, adding, "I am not in favor of masks; I never have been."

School Nurse Manager Kathi Garvin said that she expects to see a steep drop in cases. There has been a spike in cases from mid-November until now, whereas earlier in the pandemic, the percentages hovered around 3%. That was the methodology behind choosing the 3% number.

She added that parents are split equally about wearing or not wearing masks.

Member Nancy Gallivan noted that the newest guidance from the CDC recommends "all students, staff, teachers and visitors to school should be masked regardless despite their vaccination status" as one of its recommendations.

She added that the town has done well because of the collaboration between the schools, the residents and the health department in complying with policies.

"I know it's hard to be patient," Gallivan stressed, "But I think we're getting there. I can't see myself voting against the medical recommendations that have brought us at this point."

She added that she is getting requests to have all students, no matter their grade or vaccination status, be allowed to not wear masks.

Gough added that permission slips would need to be signed by parents to allow students to be unmasked.

Member Kari Denitzio stressed that the state mask requirement is currently in effect for all schools until Feb. 28 except for those schools who have exercised their waiver because they hit the 80% threshold.

She added that the schools are disrupted when students and staff test positive and must be absent for five days.

"I work in a school where one day one-third of our teaching staff was out," Denitzio explained. "I have children who were in classes that were being covered by the principal."

Member Sean Ahern mentioned that, if the onus is being put on the parents to now monitor the testing process, they should have "the opportunity to decide whether their high school student should wear a mask." He hoped that the pandemic is closer to becoming "an endemic."

"To me, this has never been about us trusting or not trusting families or us giving or taking power away," Denitzio countered. "It's been about trying to keep our schools open as consistently as we can for our kids and giving them as much normalcy as we can."

A motion was made by member Mark Breen to implement the mask off-ramping policy for vaccinated students and staff once the 3% threshold is reached. However, a substitute motion was brought forth by Geosits that allows for a mask optional policy for both vacccinated and non-vaccinated students. It included the stipulation that it be contingent upon the town's reaching a 3% positivity rate.

The substitute motion failed in a 3-4 vote.

The original motion to utilize the waiver granted by DESE for the high school for vaccinated students and staff once the community reaches a 3% threshold.

The entire meeting can be viewed at this link to Walpole Media Corporation.