PEABODY — The School Committee will be following the mask mandate that the Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education, Jeffrey C. Riley, plans to implement in all K-12 public schools throughout the state, said Peabody Superintendent of Schools Dr. Josh Vadala on Tuesday night.
Most School Committee members said that they had been prepared to vote Tuesday night on whether to require masks in the city’s public schools before the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) board voted earlier in the day to give Riley the authority to mandate masks throughout the state.
The DESE board had been acting on a recommendation for a mask mandate that Riley had submitted to the state education board for approval last week.
“(I) was prepared to come in to vote, and I do think it’s unfortunate for Commissioner Riley to take that away from us,” said committee member Brandi Carpenter.
The state mask mandate will be in effect from the start of the school year until Oct. 1. If middle and high schools have 80 percent or more of their students and staff vaccinated, after Oct. 1, those who are vaccinated will be able to stop wearing masks. Unvaccinated students and staff will have to continue wearing masks even after that deadline.
Peabody Health Director Sharon Cameron presented information to the School Committee about infection rates in students under the age of 19; the data included a breakdown of students who contracted COVID-19 during the 2020-21 school year.
“Last year during school, there were many restrictions,” said Cameron, who explained that while she was happy that everything was opening, students, parents, and staff must be more diligent. “What it means is that there are more opportunities for people to expose themselves to illness.”
Cameron’s biggest advice to the committee was to try to keep students and staff compliant with hand sanitation and to socially distance as much as possible. Dr. Leigh Ann Mansberger, a member of the Board of Health, and Brenda Wolff, the nurse leader of Peabody, both supported Cameron’s presentation.
“I know it’s been taken out of your hands until Oct. 1, but I just wanted to say when you have a problem with a toilet, you call a plumber,” said Mansberger, making the comparison that doctors, government agencies, and the city’s Board of Health are experts in the pandemic in the same way. “I hope that everyone realizes we only have everyone’s best interests at heart.”
A small group of spectators all were not wearing masks and seemed to disagree with Cameron’s statements.
Tim Mavroules was one of the members of the community to come forward, expressing concern over the effectiveness of masks and the government tying the parents’ hands.
“I’m more concerned about how the government is acting than about my kids being masked,” Mavroules said. “It should be my decision as a parent to decide.
Despite there being no vote, the committee still addressed how they wished to have been able to make this decision.
“We had all come to this meeting preparing for one thing, but it changed on us,” said Mayor Edward Bettencourt, who chairs the School Committee. “The decision made by (the) Department of Elementary and Secondary Education took away our authority, took away our ability to vote on this. But we have to abide by their decisions. I have a feeling that this will be back in front of us as we approach that Oct. 1 date.”
