Masks Remain 'Mandatory' At All North Salem Schools

NORTH SALEM, NY — The North Salem superintendent says that masks will continue to be required at school even after a state Supreme Court ruling invalidating Gov. Kathy Hochul's state mask mandate.

UPDATE: Tuesday evening, a New York Appellate Court Judge granted a stay of the earlier court ruling that blocked New York's COVID-19 face mask mandate. The emergency face mask order remains in effect while the case is appealed. New York Schools will be required to enforce the face mask rules.

SEE: Stay Granted, School Mask Mandate In Effect

Superintendent Ken Freestone said that the district will follow a decision from the New York State Department of Education that masks are still required in classrooms. He noted, in a message to parents dated Jan. 25, that the Attorney General has filed a Notice of Appeal of the Nassau County Supreme Court’s ruling.

According to Monday's decision by Judge Thomas Rademaker, the law was "promulgated and enacted unlawfully by an executive branch state agency and therefore void and unenforceable as a matter of law."

The decision also said that it does not "opine on the efficacy, need or requirement of masks as a means or tool in dealing with the COVID-19 virus." The issue is only whether or not the rule was properly enacted, the decision said.

Meanwhile, the New York State Department of Education (NYSDE) sent a letter to districts, advising schools that they must keep mask requirements in place in a letter dated Jan. 24:

"The State Education Department understands that Nassau County Supreme Court has ruled that the Department of Health exceeded its authority in enacting the mask regulation, 10 NYCRR 2.60, in Demetriou et al. v. New York State Dep't of Health et al. This regulation is the subject of conflicting decisions, insofar as Albany County Supreme Court recently upheld the regulation in Massapequa UFSD et al. v. Hochul, et al," the NYSDE wrote in the letter. "It is SED's understanding that the Department of Health will appeal the Nassau County Supreme Court decision, which will result in an automatic stay that will unambiguously restore the mask rule until such time as an appellate court issues a further ruling. Therefore, schools must continue to follow the mask rule."

Freestone said that while the situation remains fluid, the district would follow the latest NYSDE directive.

"Based on the Attorney General’s filing of the Notice of Appeal, and the directive issued by the Commissioner of Education last evening, the use of masks inside school buildings remains mandatory and not optional at this point in time," Freestone wrote.