Abington School District Approves Changes To The Health & Safety Plan Eliminating Masks

ABINGTON, PA — Students and staff in the Abington School District are no longer subject to mandatory mask requirements after the school board officially voted to eliminate the mandate during its special meeting Thursday night.

Abington Township school directors voted 9-0 Thursday to make face coverings optional inside school buildings and on district transportation since the community is now in the 'low' tier for COVID-19 transmission.

The move comes as many other school districts across Montgomery County have also made mask-wearing optional given the recent decline in coronavirus infection rates.

"Individuals may choose to continue to wear masks and it is expected that these decisions will be respected by everyone in our school community," Abington Superintendent Jeffrey S. Fecher wrote in a communication to families.

On Monday, Fecher put out a statement saying that the mask requirement would be "relaxed" until Thursday's board meeting.

At the time, Fecher said the district made the decision after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released updated guidance on COVID-19 mitigation measures, saying masking, while still recommended, was no longer required in communities that are in the 'low' and 'medium' tiers for the coronavirus.

A reader reached out to Patch to question how Fecher could make this decision "unilaterally" prior to Thursday's scheduled board meeting.

Patch spoke to school board member Daniel Kaye, who said that Fecher, in no way, acted unilaterally.

Kaye offered up the following statement:

"He called each of the board members and discussed what was happening and his concerns about relaxing the masking rules based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control. He has great compassion and showed it in his concern for his staff and for the students. We all know what information was being released to the public and realized that many people would take the news as a sign that they no longer had to wear masks. He knew some staff were being challenged by students and were being put in very awkward positions. The idea was to take the stress off staff and relaxing the rules seemed to be the best thing to do for everyone. Again, he did this only after speaking to each of the nine of us one on one."

Anyone interested in the revised health and safety plan that was adopted on Thursday can check out the document here.

The presentation made to the school board Thursday can be found here.