Manatee School Board one step closer to possibly ending COVID-19 mask mandate by August

The School Board of Manatee County has laid out the timeline for possible changes to a district-wide mask mandate.

In a letter sent to superintendents earlier this month, state Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran urged school districts to make face coverings optional in the upcoming 2021-22 school year, which begins in August. The Manatee County School District is one step closer to meeting that expectation after Tuesday evening, when board members approved a “notice of intent to amend” their mask policy.

Board members can now discuss the possible changes at Friday’s meeting, which is scheduled for 9 a.m. at the School Support Center, 215 Manatee Ave. W., followed by a final vote on the changes at their May 25 meeting.

Shaelyn Summer, a mother of four Manatee County students, was hopeful about the upcoming discussion and the move toward voluntary mask use in school. Standing outside of the administration building in downtown Bradenton before Tuesday’s meeting, Summer held a pair of signs for the drivers on Manatee Avenue West: “Our Kids, Our Choice,” one read. “Free Kids Faces,” the other said.

In the minutes leading up to the meeting, about half a dozen other people showed up with their own signs and megaphones.

“We didn’t vote our school board members in to protect grandma and grandpa,” she said. “Grandma and grandpa have been adults for a very, very long time. They should be the ones protecting themselves. That’s such a heavy weight to put on our children to say, ‘Hey, listen, you have to sacrifice this so you don’t kill your grandma.’ That’s insane. Can you imagine putting that on your 8-year-old child?”

Her own children were enrolled in online learning because of the mask requirement in local schools and buses. Still, Summer said she empathized with students and families who used masks and other safety measures.

It was all about choice, she said, and Summer hoped her children would have the choice to forgo masks and return to school in August.

“There are some people who are nervous about opening up,” she said. “By all means, get your vaccine, wear your mask — do whatever you need to make yourself feel comfortable and safe.”

When asked for comment on the upcoming school board discussion, the president of the Manatee County Medical Society, Dr. Silvio Tanev, said he recommended following guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at least for the remainder of this school year.

As of this month, the CDC still urged students, teachers and staff to wear masks in schools and buses.

“Most students, including those with disabilities, can tolerate and safely wear a mask,” the agency reported. “However, a narrow subset of students with disabilities might not be able to wear a mask or cannot safely wear a mask.”

Tanev said the medical society was open to changes in the new school year, especially if research shows that students can lose the masks and not have a significant impact on COVID spread in local classrooms. One possibility was to compare data from the school district with data from private schools where masks were less common.

As of Wednesday evening, the school district recorded at least 601 positive COVID-19 cases and more than 7,500 related exposures in the current semester. Several board members have credited masks for preventing spread and keeping school numbers lower than the surrounding community.

“The system so far has been working, so I think they should keep it to the end of the year, which is not too far from now,” Tanev said. “For next year, I think it’s too early to really tell.”

There were several questions leading up to August: Would vaccines become available to children younger than 16? Would new coronavirus variants derail the progress currently being made? And how effective would masks be when fewer students are wearing them?

That discussion will continue at Friday’s meeting, before the school board makes a final decision in late May.

“Of course, we would finish the year with controversy on a mask as we started the year with controversy on a mask,” Superintendent Cynthia Saunders said on Tuesday. “But I know we will get through it and next year will look better than this year.”

This story was originally published April 28, 2021 at 2:58 PM.