‘You don’t have to wear a mask all the time.’ Manatee School Board changes policy

The School Board of Manatee County approved a mask policy on Tuesday evening. The community feedback was almost instant, and the board reconvened on Friday afternoon to rethink its guidelines.

Much like the original policy, the School Board is requiring that students and employees wear a face mask — meaning cloth masks, cloth face coverings or disposable masks — in district buildings and buses. But on Friday afternoon, with a unanimous vote, the board included several “allowances” to its policy:

• With teacher permission, a student can take a break from wearing his or her face mask if the break is taken outdoors with social distancing. The same is true for employees who are outside or employees who are alone in their offices and classrooms.
• No face coverings are required while eating or drinking in “designated areas” if social distancing is respected.
• No face coverings are required during physical education classes, recess or other other outdoor activities if social distancing is followed. However, “students must wear cloth face masks to and from” the activities.
• Students with disabilities and students in pre-K through fifth grade can wear face shields “that completely cover the face, wrap around the face and extend below the chin.”
• The guidance also notes that “clear face coverings are not face shields.” It goes on to say that face shields are only acceptable for students with disabilities and students in pre-K through fifth grade when in the classroom “during specific instructional periods.” There must be social distancing and/or “physical barriers or separation,” and cloth face masks are still expected outside the classroom.
• The same guidance on face shields applies to teachers in all grade levels. “A cloth face mask must be worn after specific instruction has been given or when social distancing cannot be followed between teacher and student, and during all other times and locations.”

When board members discussed the policy earlier this week, they were unaware of new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which was published on the same day.

“While cloth face coverings are strongly encouraged to reduce the spread of COVID-19, CDC recognizes there are specific instances when wearing a cloth face covering may not be feasible,” the agency reported. “In these instances, parents, guardians, caregivers, teachers, and school administrators should consider adaptations and alternatives whenever possible.”

Masks could be a struggle for young children or students with special needs, the CDC said, echoing its past guidance. Gina Messenger, the School Board’s chair, expressed her irritation during Friday’s conversation, after raising the same concerns earlier this week.

“I am the only one that has a kid in our schools,” Messenger said. “I am the one that taught elementary school, and these are the things that I said, so you have to forgive me for feeling frustrated.”

“I’m not some crazy let’s-never-wear-a-mask-ever person,” she continued. “That’s not what I’m saying. What I am saying is follow what the CDC says.”

The district guidance is expected to change as CDC recommendations evolve. Friday’s update included the CDC’s recent stance against masks with valves or vents, which allow “exhaled air to be expelled out through holes in the materials.”

Board member Scott Hopes, donning an N95 mask and a face shield, said the updated policy was the safest way to meet the needs of all students, but only if every school followed the guidance.

“You don’t have to wear a mask all the time, as long as you are in an open-air environment and you’re adequately separated from other people,” he said. “If we do not follow these guidelines, we will not be able to maintain open schools.”