Hatboro-Horsham Joins Other Montco Districts In Mandating Masks

HATBORO-HORSHAM, PA — The Hatboro-Horsham School District has revised its health and safety plan for the coming school year to include universal masking for students, regardless of whether or not they have been vaccinated.

In an update to families posted on the district’s website on Thursday, Superintendent Scott Eveslage said the district will now mandate all students be masked while indoors during the 2021-22 school year as a mitigation strategy designed to curb the rising COVID-19 infection rates in the county and the local community.

Hatboro-Horsham follows in the footsteps of many other area school districts who have recently revised their health and safety plans for the coming school year to include a universal masking provision, a move that has been met with both support and opposition from families across Montgomery County and beyond.

Eveslage, in his letter, said the Delta variant of the coronavirus is much to blame for the need to once again having students and staff mask indoors, since the variant is one of the main reasons COVID-19 numbers have been steadily rising.

County, state and federal health agencies are now urging people to one again mask up while indoors, and Montgomery County in particular has recommended students attending school wear masks while inside buildings, regardless of whether or not they have been inoculated against the virus.

“We cannot view this guidance as static,” Eveslage said in his letter. “As we have in the past, we will adapt practices and adhere to the guidance that will prioritize the health and safety of our students and staff.”

The Hatboro-Horsham School Board had approved the district’s 2021-22 health and safety plan during its July meeting. Eveslage said the plan “acknowledges the fluidity of the situation and grants the administration some flexibility to adapt our health and safety measures to align with the MCOPH guidance. We consult regularly with public health officials from the MCOPH on school guidance and protocols.”

The MCOPH stands for the Montgomery County Office of Public Health.

Eveslage wrote that the county health guidance reinforces the importance of in-person instruction for students — which will be the case for 2021-22 in Hatboro-Horsham — while also stressing the need for various mitigation efforts.

Students in Hatboro-Horsham will be attending in-person instruction five days a week this coming school year.

Eveslage said the masking measure, while not welcome by all, was necessary given the fact that the district is now classified as being in the ‘substantial’ transmission range for the virus.

“We understand that many had hoped that masks would no longer be needed in schools, but the rise in prevalence of the Delta variant, and the fact that students under 12 are unable to be vaccinated, make it necessary to return to masking,” Eveslage wrote. “Having students masked will also limit the number of students who must quarantine and miss school, should they be identified as a close contact of an infected individual. Taking this step will enable us to continue as safely as possible toward our primary goal of offering in-person education.”

Additionally, Eveslage said that district employees who are not vaccinated against COVID-19 would be required to undergo weekly testing for the virus.

The district will also be offering virtual instruction for students in first through 12th grade, something that the district brought back after being made aware of community interest in the remote option.

Hatboro-Horsham will be hosting a free vaccination clinic on Aug. 21 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Hallowell Elementary School gymnasium for those individuals 12 and older who are eligible to receive the vaccine. The first dose will be given on Aug. 21 and individuals who receive that dose will need to schedule the second dose on Sept. 11 at the same time and location.

Visit here to register for the clinic.