11 MA Schools Approved To Drop Mask Mandates

ACROSS MASSACHUSETTS — The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has approved 11 out of 18 requests from schools to remove their mask mandates, MassLive reports. Though the state’s K-12 school mask mandate has been extended until January, schools with student and staff vaccination rates of over 80% can apply to allow vaccinated students to go maskless.

On Monday, Hopkinton High School became the first school in the state to give its students the option to go maskless, after approval from DESE in October, then a school committee vote. However, despite the school’s 98% vaccination rates, Superintendent Carol Cavanaugh said that only about half of students had submitted the necessary vaccination paperwork on time. The school’s policy will last a three week trial period that will end just before Thanksgiving recess, after which it will reassess.

The 11 schools with DESE approval are:

• Ashland High School
• Algonquin Regional High School, Northborough
• Corwin-Russell School at Broccoli Hall, Sudbury
• Cotting School, Lexington
• Medway High School
• New England Academy School, Beverly
• Norwell High School
• Sarah Gibbons Middle School, Westborough

Now that Pfizer vaccines are available to children 5-11 in Massachusetts, elementary schools can apply as well. DESE has reported COVID-19 infection rates of 0.2% among students and 0.25% among staffers, according to MassLive.

Related:

• COVID Vaccine For Kids Under 12: Where To Get One In MA
• Vaccinated Hopkinton HS Students Can Go Without Masks Monday