LB Phys Ed Teacher Sees 'Tiny Fraction' Of Anti-Mask Students

LONG BEACH, NY —Back to school this year for students means a mask is required for all students, teachers and staff. The edict came down from Albany just before classes started.

While some parents are saying they don't want the schools to co-parent, the overwhelming majority are understanding, if not embracing the situation, as New York navigates COVID-19, in particular the Delta variant.

Dan Quinn, a longtime physical education teacher at Long Beach High School, sees students on an every other day basis.

Part of the orientation for students involved wearing masks.

"Nobody gave us a hard time," Quinn told Patch. "All the kids know they've got to do it."

Having gone through this last year, Quinn thinks it's not a major issue for most students and their parents.

"This is the rule and it's not really a big deal," he said.

Quinn said the group who are anti-mask is a "tiny fraction" of the student body.

Teachers have the discretion to give children a mask break, where they lower the face covering for a couple of minutes.

Quinn is more lenient as his students are doing exercise when he sees them.

"If he's moving, needs to breathe and lowers his mask, I'm not yelling at him to put his mask up," Quinn said.

However, a student who adamantly refuses to put the mask on, Quinn said, would likely be removed from the class. If they didn't change their stance, "they'd probably get suspended," he said.

He said the anti-mask controversy is directly in the hands of the parents, not the kids. Quinn also recognizes that Gov. Kathy Hochul will take the hit for the mask mandate, required in all school districts.

"There are people on both sides of the issue that you're going to make unhappy," he said. "It's all about trying to add whatever layer of protection is possible to keep safe."