By Linda Conner Lambeck

WESTPORT — A formal decision won’t be made until the Board of Education meets on Feb. 28, but there seems to be unanimous consensus that masks will become optional starting that day, when students and staff return from winter break.

“There may be six hours where we are a tiny bit out of our policy zone but we are going forward,” Board Chair Lee Goldstein said Wednesday at the end of special meeting held to set the stage for the repeal of two board policies that put the mask mandate in place as a mitigation strategy for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Westport Following State Example

Supt. of Schools Thomas Scarice said Gov. Ned Lamont’s lifting of the statewide mask mandate for schools as of February 28 tells him that universal masking is not a necessary public health intervention at this point in time.

 In a three-page memo to the board, Scarice said that although the state’s Commissioners of Education and Early Childhood have yet to issue guidance, it is clear the mask mandate will be eliminated.

The infection rate in the region, and in particular Westport, appears to be bottoming out and possibly reaching a level that could be expected to be our new normal, Scarice wrote.

Noting that their proper use had decreased, he said masks currently provide a false sense of security in schools.

Mask Use Still Honored

The plan allows staff and students the choice to continue wearing masks. Scarice said that meetings would be held on the morning of Feb. 28 to remind students to honor and respect anyone’s choice to do so.

 “The district team is committed to supporting the personal choice of each individual student and staff member,” he said, “and to protecting everyone in our school community from unwelcome comments and behaviors.”

While masks will become optional, other mitigation measures will continue, including ventilation measures, social distancing and hand-hygiene protocols.

Students will also still be required to wear masks on buses, per federal guidelines.

Testing Continues Through March

Weekly serial testing will continue through March. Daily reports of new COVID cases will continue for two weeks past February break.

Going forward, however, state law requiring school workers, or any visitors, to be vaccinated or tested will no longer be in effect.

Suzanne Levasseur, supervisor of health services, said as the pandemic shifts to an endemic, the district will continue to have masks available and, for the time being, COVID-19 test kits.

Though cautiously optimistic, Levasseur said there has to be a willingness to pivot back to universal masks “if we have too.”

Board Member Robert Harrington said he fully supported the superintendent’s recommendation for mask choice.

“I am excited,” he said. “It is finally time to give options back to students and parents.”

While member Kevin Christie applauded the flexibility of offering a choice to families, he remains concerned.

“Lifting it on the 28^th does seem to present some increased level of risk of transmission,” he said, particularly to staff.

Parents React

 During public comment, Kimberly Paris, the mother of two juniors at Staples, called the “masks off” decision inevitable. It’s the timing that concerned her.

“I encourage you to reconsider extending that at least for the week” after break, Paris said.

 Lindsay Weiner, another parent, said it will take more than a morning meeting to acclimate students to the transition.

“What is the downside to waiting one, two, three, four, five more days for these conversations to happen,” she said.

 Michelle-Lee Rabinowitz, a parent of three, said she doesn’t want to wait one day past Feb. 28 for masks to become optional. She called it child abuse at this point.

“Our children have worn these masks for far too long in the name of science and safety and the have provided all of us a false sense of security,” she said. “As of February 28 I want my children’s rights back.”

Parent Todd Freeman said science shows mask do work, some better than others.

He said its not true that most parents support taking masks off.

Benjamine Lagasse, who has three children at Saugatuck Elementary School, said he wants to send his kids to school without a mask and wants to make sure the mandate does not come back.

“This is not a power I think (the board) should have. This is a power parents should have,” he said.

Christy O’Keefe, who has two sons at Coleytown Elementary School, said lives are moving on.

 “My six-year-old has never been to Coleytown without a mask on,” she said.  “It’s not normal.”

“We need to move forward,” she said. “Feb. 28 is as good of a date as any.”