Danbury School Board Set To Discuss Mask Mandate

DANBURY, CT — The Danbury School Board will take its first steps in determining whether or not to keep the mask mandate next week.

The board's Policy Committee will meet online at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday to discuss the topic.

Gov. Ned Lamont announced Monday he is recommending the state not extend its school mask mandate past Feb. 28. The governor's emergency pandemic powers by which the mandate was enacted expire on Feb. 15, and are not scheduled to be renewed.

Lamont said the decision whether masks be required in the state's schools would be made at the district level.

Schools will receive updated guidance from the Connecticut Department of Health, but there will not be "one firm metric," according to DPH Commissioner Dr. Manisha Juthani.

"Certainly, I understand why here in our community we're going to be divided over this topic," Superintendent Kevin Walston said at the tail-end of a BOE meeting earlier this week. "We're going to do what's in the best interests of Danbury."

Walston said the board would be making its decision with feedback from the city's own health department.