By Tim Mastro

For the first time during the COVID-19 pandemic, the decision of whether or not to require masks in Delaware schools will come from school districts themselves.

The state’s mask mandate has been in effect for children kindergarten-age and older in schools since they returned in a hybrid model for the 2020-2021 academic year. The masking requirement remained as they shifted to full-time in-person learning for 2021-2022.

But Gov. John Carney announced last week the mandate will expire at 11:59 p.m. March 31. He said that deadline will give parents time to vaccinate their school-age children and also allow districts and schools time to consider their own local mask requirements.

What local boards will require and when they will announce their masking rules is to be determined as many are still evaluating the recent announcement.

“We have made no decisions on the topic,” Cape Henlopen Superintendent Bob Fulton said. “We will be making the decision in early to mid-March so that everyone is aware of what to expect in our schools starting April 1.”

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still recommend masking in schools.

IR parents sound off

One school district, Indian River, already held a special board meeting on Friday to discuss the expiration of the mask mandate.

Several parents and teachers spoke out against masks during the public comment portion of the meeting, some asking to drop the requirement early. But school board president Rodney Layfield said the district’s hands are tied.

“We can do nothing with the mask mandate as we have tried to do, until it concludes on March 31,” Mr. Layfield said.

Indian River has been the school district which has pushed back against masking requirements the most. It issued a formal challenge to the governor’s order through a “no-confidence” motion in August and conducted a December survey which showed nearly half its parents who responded opposed masks while 46.5% wanted face coverings to remain during the pandemic.

Jake Buchler, a kindergarten teacher at Lord Baltimore Elementary, has staged public protest of mandates outside the school in Ocean View. Since the state’s universal indoor mask mandate was lifted on Friday, he said it is time for the school one to go as well.

“I have spent the last two years being one of the few teachers that is not afraid to stand up against these tyrannical and nonsensical mandates. I have faced public and private scrutiny,” said Mr. Buchler at Friday’s meeting. “I want to come with a little different viewpoint today. I can tell you all how ridiculous all this stuff is, but you can go into the grocery store tomorrow and see when 90% of the people take their masks off, how none of us really care.”

Jennifer Hurd, another speaker during public commentary, told the board, “Enough is enough, let it be a choice.”

“If you are not strong enough as a board to say, ‘No masks,’ then be a little bit stronger,” Ms. Hurd said. “I don’t want to see not one of you at Chick-fil-A, BJ’s, Giant. You know your high school people, your kids that in the school, they serve you — in your restaurants, at the movies, at Planet Fitness.”

‘Not a political issue’

The masking debate led to some contentious school board meetings at the start of this academic year.

Cape Henlopen voted to adjourn an August meeting due to “the temperament of the crowd” after board members were cursed at and threatened. Milford and Caesar Rodney boards each had to take a recess during their August meetings due to protesters present, but both meetings were able to be completed. The Brandywine board of education also ended its August meeting early due to the protests while Red Clay Consolidated School District’s first meeting was interrupted several times by chanting from crowd members.

However Delaware avoided more extreme scenarios that played out nationwide such as an arrest for aggravated battery and disorderly conduct in Illinois, another individual arrested in Virginia and a Nazi salute in Michigan.

Gov. Carney said he does not see masking in schools as a political issue and hopes upcoming school board meetings will not face crowd control issues. He said based on the feedback he received, reaction to the state’s recent masking decision is split 50/50.

“Half the people said you’re doing it too soon and the other half said you’re not doing it soon enough,” Gov. Carney said. “We know there are competing interests to be balanced, not political interests, but interests with respect to the best learning environments and the safest learning environments.”

Gov. Carney added he was given positive feedback from school board members for the March 31 end date which will allow them a month and a half to formulate their own plan. There is also hope Delaware’s COVID-19 statistics will be in an even better place come April as the state has continued a sharp decline from the peak of the virus set in mid-January thanks to the omicron variant.

“It gives them enough time to make preparations,” Gov. Carney said. “We’re looking at the whole picture and the trajectory of this.”

The March 31 end date also gives the Delaware Division of Public Health and the Department of Education an opportunity to work with educators on updates to quarantine and contact tracing guidance.

Decreasing transmission rate

DPH has said there has been very little spread in schools this year, which it has contributed to mask-wearing.

Delaware has recorded 9,363 in-person contagious cases among K-12 public school students this year — 6.6% of the estimated 141,040 students in public schools. DPH also reported 2,110 in-person contagious cases in private schools so far out of their estimated 15,754 (1.3%).

In-person contagious cases are defined by DPH as “persons who were present at school as far back as 48 hours prior to the onset of symptoms (or test date if no symptoms). The source of infection of these cases cannot be attributed to schools, nor is it known that they are the source of infection to others in schools.”

The state’s worst week was during the omicron spike, Jan. 15-21, when 1,323 public school students recorded in-person contagious cases. But that was still less than 1% of the estimated 141,040 at 0.94%. Cases were down in public schools for the most recent week, Jan. 29-Feb. 4, where there were 340 (0.24%).

DPH director Dr. Karyl Rattay said DPH is committed to helping districts with whatever information they require to make the best decision based on the current transmission rate.

“We have school liaisons to support each district in the state but also have other technical experts to provide support whether it’s connecting schools to vaccines or talking through their individual scenarios,” Dr. Rattay said. “We’re absolutely there to provide support that districts might need in their decision-making.”

Several districts have held vaccination clinics in the past few weeks. Caesar Rodney hosted one on Friday while Cape Henlopen had its own on Saturday.

The Kent County Coalition for vaccine equity has partnered with several districts to help with vaccine access. The coalition held clinics at Hartly Elementary Feb. 2, Dover High Feb. 3, North Dover Elementary Feb. 4, Lake Forest Central Elementary last Monday, North Smyrna Elementary Wednesday, Clayton Intermediate School last Thursday, Polytech High Friday and has another clinic scheduled for this upcoming Friday at East Dover Elementary from 4-6 p.m.

A full list of statewide vaccination sites is available at de.gov/getmyvaccine. More information on children COVID-19 vaccinations can be found at de.gov/youthvaccine.

Staff writers Glenn Rolfe and Joe Edelen contributed to this report.