Swampscott Schools District Indoor Mask Coronavirus Policy Debate

SWAMPSCOTT, MA — An indoor mask mandate for Swampscott Public Schools was the centerpiece topic of a public discussion Wednesday night involving the School Committee, administrators, teacher union representatives and other town health officials.

About an hour of public comment was also part of the meeting meant as a precursor to a policy recommendation and vote on coronavirus-related guidelines for the upcoming school year next week.

While the majority of school and health officials voiced support for an indoor mask mandate for all students and staff regardless of vaccination status, while allowing medical exemptions, public comment was more split with some parents advocating for the mandate and several others saying it should be a family choice.

The meeting ended with an agreement that three proposals will be drafted for the school committee to consider next Wednesday night — the universal indoor mask proposal, one that mandates masks for those in kindergarten through eighth grade and one in line with the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education guidance that "strongly recommends" masks for all unvaccinated students, including those under 12 years old not yet eligible, but makes them optional for vaccinated students and staff.

While state guidance delineates at sixth grade — the grade during which most students will first become eligible for the vaccine under the current emergency use authorization for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines — Superintendent Pam Angelakis said in Swampscott any grade-based differentiation in policy should be at the high school level since the middle school is grades 5 through 8.

"Who is going to be the mask police in the hallways?" she asked. "We have some very tall sixth graders and some very small eighth graders. I don't think our leaders want to be running through the hallways checking for masks.

"We're not in the carding business. We're in the education business."

Swampscott Public Health Director Jeff Vaughan said the Board of Health was recommending the universal maks policy in schools. Swampscott also has an indoor mask policy for municipal buildings that went into effect two weeks ago, but does not have one for indoor businesses.

He said there had been 38 cases of coronavirus confirmed within the town since the start of August.

Swampscott Schools Occupational Health Nurse Amanda Mulcahy was also among those recommending masks for all, though she did praise the town's exceptionally high vaccination rates among student-age residents — with 86 percent of 12- to 15-year-olds having received at least one dose, as well as 94 percent of 16- to 19-year-olds.

She said data indicating the delta variant can spread among vaccinated people led her to recommend everyone remain masked.

Angelakis, as well as several of those who spoke in public comment, said any mask policy adopted next week should be frequently revisited throughout the school year as the data changes. Angelakis proposed Columbus Day as one interval to review policy to see if it could possibly be eased.

Mulcahy also said Swampscott will adopt the state's "Test to Stay" initiative aimed at limiting the number of students and staff who will need to quarantine for two weeks this year. Under the state guidelines issued on Friday, if someone is considered a close contact of a positive case, that student or teacher can stay in the classroom — and participate in extracurricular activities like sports — as long as they continue to test negative in daily rapid testing conducted at the school.

"We're in a much better position than we were last year," Angelakis said. "If masks are what we're asking compared to what our students have been through the past 16 months, that's an easy one, in my opinion."

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(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.)

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