Wake schools rejects expanding mask mandate to include pre-school students
The Wake County school system rejected a proposal Tuesday that would have expanded the face mask mandate to include preschool students.
Wake County school administrators recommended following new state health guidance to expand the face mask mandate to include children ages 2 and up.
But the board voted to continue requiring face masks only for students ages 5 and up.
Under the proposal, children ages 2 to 4 would have been required to wear masks except when eating and drinking and during naptime. Instead, the board voted only to recommend young children wear them.
“I can’t see holding children of that age to the same standard as high school students,” said board vice chairman Chris Heagarty.
Some board members disagreed, saying they should follow public health guidance.
“We should be following the recommendations of our public health officials because they are public health officials,” said board member Jim Martin.
DHHS recommends masking preschoolers
School administrators recommended expanded the masking requirement based on new guidance from the state Department of Health and Human Services, saying childcare programs should require all children ages 2 and older to wear a face mask. Many Wake elementary schools have pre-kindergarten classrooms.
DHHS cites guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics, which strongly recommends that anyone over the age of 2 wear a face mask in public. DHHS also cites how many children in that age range aren’t vaccinated yet.
The COVID-19 vaccine has only been approved for children as young as age 5. But Pfizer requested approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday for its vaccine to be given to children as young as 6 months old.
Unlike last school year, DHHS only can recommend schools mandate face masks, but they can’t require districts to do so. But most North Carolina school districts are requiring face coverings, at least for K-12 students, as COVID-19 cases have surged due to the omicron variant.
Two Wake school board members, Roxie Cash and chairwoman Lindsay Mahaffey, participated in Tuesday’s meeting virtually after testing positive for COVID-19.
Require or recommend masks?
Paul Koh, assistant superintendent for student support services, said Wake only has 24 two-year-olds in ready-to-learn programs. But board member Karen Carter said the change proposed by staff would include many more children, such as 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds in pre-K classes.
Koh said teachers would recognize that young children couldn’t wear masks as long as older students, even with a requirement. Children that age who didn’t wear masks would not have faced discipline.
Board member Monika Johnson-Hostler urged changing the policy from “required” to “recommended” for ages 2 to 4. That amendment was passed 6-2 with Mahaffey and Martin the lone dissenters.
The board went on to unanimously approve requiring face masks for ages 5 and up.
This story was originally published February 1, 2022 at 9:54 PM with the headline "Wake schools rejects expanding mask mandate to include pre-school students."
