Salem Schools Mask Vote Put On Hold, Except For Basketball, Arts

SALEM, MA — The Salem School Committee will once again address and potentially vote on the district's policy for lifting the indoor mask requirement at its next meeting on March 7 following a recommendation from Superintendent Steve Zrike and a health advisory committee.

The Committee, which has already met twice in the past two weeks on the possible parameters for making masks optional in schools, determined Monday night it wants to review the health advisory's recommendation and sign off any potential changes rather than allow Zrike to make those changes based on the advisory board's recommendations.

Zrike had proposed the group, made up of health experts who have been advising on protocols throughout the pandemic, would make its recommendation on March 10 for a possible change in mask policy effective March 14. However, the School Committee sought final oversight after being the body that enacted the original mask order in August.

The state mask order expired on Monday with most area school districts going mask-optional for the first time upon the return from vacation. Both Lynn and Swampcott have targeted March 14 as the date to make masks optional in those districts, pending continued declining case counts.

Salem Mayor and School Committee Chair Kim Driscoll repeatedly said throughout the two-hour discussion that numbers in Salem were trending in the right direction for the order to be lifted "in mid-March" but it was unclear if several of the School Committee members were on board with that assessment.

"This virus is not a switch that we turn on and turn off," said Driscoll, noting that the earliest the order will be lifted will be March 14. "Things could toggle back and forth. We might feel really good about removing mask requirements and going mask-optional in mid-March. And if something starts to trend the other way, and we start to see case counts going up, we may need to toggle back into a set of circumstances where we are applying additional measures to protect students and staff.

"But rather than tying it to a date, and instead tying it to some metrics, it ensures we are thinking about that for whatever is left of this pandemic."

A lot of the Committee discussion was based on exactly what those metrics should be when some schools have both students eligible and not eligible for vaccination, and where different schools — as well as different demographic groups within those schools — have dramatically different vaccination rates.

"It's always going to be a challenge and it's always going to be a bit of a judgment call," School Committee member Kristin Pangallo said. "We do need a long-term strategy. We do need to think about lifting these mitigation measures and we need a very thoughtful process to do that to help build confidence.

"But I also think we can do that when case counts in our community are so low that we know that we don't have a high risk. We have very low amounts of viral activity that we don't expect to have it in our school buildings. ... When we think about operating our schools it's not enough to have low hospitalization rates If we have too many cases in our community. That's when operating schools becomes difficult."

Driscoll did note that at some point the Committee will have to determine overarching guidelines that apply to almost everyone and not necessarily parses out every individual mitigation measure or masking contingency.

"To suggest that we're going to be determining the metric for what is equitable access (to masks and vaccines) or for wastewater surveillance data," Driscoll said, "that may be in my estimation not worthy of our time as much as it is the health advisory board that has been working together on these recommendations."

The School Committee did vote on a narrow exemption to the masking rules when it comes to boys basketball playoff games and this weekend's high school drama production and an upcoming Collins School music program, during which those actively participating in the performances and games will be able to go mask-optional.

That passed on a 4-3 vote with Driscoll casting the deciding vote.

According to the language of a motion that was revised several times, Salem High basketball players — who had to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a requirement to play this season — will be required to take a rapid test to play mask-free in their state tournament game Friday night at 6:30 at Salem High. Salem's opponent, which is still to be determined, can now also play mask-free, but it was noted that those players cannot be compelled to take a test without consent.

The same rules apply to the drama club's performance of "Into the Woods" this weekend, though there are only Salem students participating in that event.

All Salem students in "high-respiration extracurricular activities" were required to be "fully vaccinated" as of Dec. 1.

(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.)