Split Vote Sends Salem Schools Mask-Optional For Most Students

SALEM, MA — Most Salem Public Schools students and staff will have the option to remove the masks inside school buildings for the first time in two years next Monday.

The Salem School Committee voted 5-2 Monday night to accept Superintendent Steve Zrike's Health Advisory Board recommendation that masks become optional on March 14, with School Committee member Mary Manning making a motion that the pre-K students, staff and visitors remain masked through later in April because those 5 years or younger are not yet eligible for vaccinations.

The Health Advisory Board had recommended lifting the mask order for all age levels.

"I am trying to give people a little more time," said Manning, who said the pre-K order should be re-examined one week after the end of April vacation, "to make sure this is the safe way to go.

"I don't see a problem with erring on the side of caution. in this case. Then we can give one more check (of the data), then say: 'Great, go for it until the end of the year.'"

School Committee members Jim Fleming and Beth Anne Cornell expressed support for fully accepting the Health Advisory Board's recommendation, while School Committee members Dr. Kristin Pangallo and Amanda Campbell indicated they believe the universal mask order should remain in place until either COVID-19 cases remain lower for a longer period of time or vaccination rates increase.

"It's always been an emerging science but right now it's more of a judgment call," said Pangallo, adding that she was a dissenting voice on the Health Advisory Board's recommendation to go mask-optional. "There is no scientific consensus. Some experts feel that it's time to remove masks more broadly. Some experts feel very strongly that it's not. I would say most people come down somewhere in the middle.

"For me, personally, I am more cautious because school is a special place. Because school is a place where children are legally required to be."

Pangallo said that while she acknowledges "we can't keep wearing masks forever" she is concerned to the extent that going universally mask-optional is shifting the burden of the virus from the public good to individuals most at risk since masks are most effective when everyone wears them.

"What I keep coming back to is that we don't get that much from taking the masks off," she said. "It's not the masks that are causing the fatigue and the stress. And removing them is not going to remove the pandemic. It won't remove the stress. It won't remove the trauma. It's not going to remove all the issues that we're facing.

"We are going from a community approach of protecting each other to an individual approach and we know that the individual approach does not work as well."

Campbell said she was worried not only about pre-K students who cannot get vaccinated but also students in grades kindergarten through Grade 5 where recent data shows the Pfizer vaccine doses are less effective, as well as vaccination rates that vary widely among the city's different individual schools and demographics.

"Not all of our families have been able to make those choices," she said. "Having a universal approach tied to data that is not universal is concerning."

School Committee member Manny Cruz backed Manning's pre-K mask order motion, while Mayor and School Committee Chair Kim Driscoll said she supported the Health Board Adnvistory's recommendation to lift the order fully.

Campbell and Pangallo were the two members who ultimately voted against the motion.

Zrike said the Health Advisory Board will continue to "carefully watch our data and make adjustments as needed," noting that "pivoting may be quick," if necessary.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)