Lower Moreland School Board To Vote on Health & Safety Plan Tues.

Update, 12:50 p.m. This story has been updated to reflect the fact that a universal mask policy, while not currently considered for Lower Moreland, may be revisited if certain COVID-19 metrics are reached in the community. The school district also wanted the community to know the survey referenced in the link the article is not coming from the district but rather an outside source.

LOWER MORELAND, PA — Lower Moreland school board members are scheduled to vote on the district’s 2021-22 health and safety plan on Tuesday, and, as it currently stands, administrators are ‘recommending’ that students and staff wear facemasks indoors, but not mandating the practice.

The optional masking protocol provided for in the draft plan is at odds with many other area school districts, who have been revising their health and safety plans to include mandatory universal masking requirements in light of rising COVID-19 numbers.

In Lower Moreland, students will still be required to wear masks while on district transportation to and from school regardless of vaccination status.

The district acknowledges in its health and safety plan that county, state and federal health agencies are recommending that individuals wear masks while indoors due to rising coronavirus infection rates, but it says it “will not universally mandate this practice.”

The district has since reiterated to Patch that just because masks are not being mandated at this time, the issue may still be revisited if certain coronavirus metrics are met in the community.

Cheryl Galdo, the director of human resources and public relations at the school district, said that Lower Moreland continues to follow metrics from the U.S. CDC and the Montgomery County Office of Public Health to determine if, and when, face coverings may be reinstituted for students and staff.

Galdo said the triggering metric for masks in the district's health and safety plan that would be recommended to the school board on Aug. 17 is the when the Lower Moreland community would reach the high transmission level, which is 100 to greater than 100 cases per 100,000 people, or a 10 percent positivity rate. The district would then mandate face coverings for employees and students in kindergarten through 12th grade for a minimum of two consecutive weeks.

As for community input, there is currently an online survey available to the Lower Moreland community asking for the opinions of residents and families regarding the masking issue. The survey, however, is not being put out by the school district but rather a coalition called Pop the Bubble.

Tuesday's school board meeting agenda can be found here.

Patch recently reported on the masking situation in Lower Moreland, which is definitely a departure from many other area school districts, which have been changing their health and safety plans to making universal masking for students and staff mandatory regardless of whether individuals have been inoculated against COVID-19.

A livestream of Tuesday's Lower Moreland School Board meeting can be found here.