By Linda Conner Lambeck

WESTPORT — Supt. of Schools Thomas Scarice declared the 90 minutes he spent at Coleytown Elementary School Monday afternoon the best of his tenure at the school district’s helm so far.

Students were smiling. He smiled back. He spent 20 minutes on a rug during free time with kindergartners.

For some students, it was their first experience in school without a face mask.

“I was in my element,” Scarice told the Board of Education on Monday night. “It was just unbelievable.”

Board endorses lifting mask mandate

Given the option to become mask optional as of Feb. 28 — the first day back in session after winter break — the school district embraced the opportunity as Scarice had recommended several weeks earlier.

The board formalized the action Monday with a unanimous vote to strike two temporary policies put in place in the summer of 2020, in accordance with executive orders issued by Gov. Ned Lamont to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lamont’s mask mandate was lifted as of Monday, putting the mask-wearing decision in local hands. Some 85 percent of school districts in the state have made mask wearing optional, the governor said Monday.

In Westport, the day’s motto was, “Either Way, it’s OK.”

There were classroom discussions about the policy switch, according to Scarice, and no reports of any issues among students.

In many schools, the balance of mask and non-mask-wearing students shifted as the day went on, going from a 70/30 split to half and half.

Scarice told the board he took that as a positive takeaway, that students were making personal choices about wearing masks

The school board’s decision was possible not only by the lifting mandate, but improving COVID transmission numbers.

Suzanne Levasseur, supervisor of health services for the district, said town schools have gone from “red” category, signifying the highest transmission rate of the virus, to a low-risk “green.”

“The transmission rate is low,” Scarice said. The district’s vaccination rate is high.

On the first day back, the schools’ voluntary Monday morning screening reported just one positive COVID result, Levasseur said. Fourteen cases were reported to the district over the winter break and 11 on Monday.

School bus mask mandate also ends, at-home tests available

During the district’s week-long recess, new federal CDC guidelines also ended the mask mandate for those riding school buses.

Meanwhile, at-home COVID-19 testing kits, promised to the district for some time, have started to arrive. Levasseur said the kits are available to any students who want them.

Although masks now are optional in school buildings, the district will continue to isolate or quarantine students exposed to the virus. Students who are unvaccinated and exposed need to stay home five days and can return to classes wearing a mask for five more days if not experiencing symptoms.

Tutoring provided by the district for students sent home on quarantine will end March 15. Scarice said the service was not being utilized.

COVID cases will continue to be reported daily until mid-March.

Board member Neil Phillips, one of three school board members at the meeting wearing a mask, asked what the district would do if there is a new COVID outbreak.

What metric would be used, he wondered. “Is there a number of cases?”

It depends, he was told. Control over those issues has shifted to district level, Scarice said.