NEW HAVEN, Conn. — With the state-wide mask mandate ending this week for Connecticut schools, some have decided to keep masks in class.
In New Haven, the Board of Education made the decision Monday night, after a presentation from the health department.
But, one school board member is looking for clarity on the wording behind that decision, which mentioned masks may be worn in New Haven schools for the "unforeseeable future."
“What are the metrics that we need to get to, in order to get there," said Darnell Goldson a New Haven Public Schools Board Member.
Goldson said he isn’t against mask-wearing. In fact, he’s in the middle of battling cancer and sees its importance. But, part of the presentation given by the public health director at the board meeting, which he missed because of treatment, isn’t sitting well with him. It's the "unforeseeable future" wording.
"For me, that’s not leadership. That’s not a plan that you come to a board with and ask the board to approve," Goldson said.
City leaders listed three main reasons for this decision:
- The low vaccination rate for age group 5-17 as compared to surrounding towns
- A significant percent of high-risk students in the district –40%
- Masks have been shown to be effective should there be another surge
"My sense is that it is not appropriate for us to just give a timeline a week out or two weeks out, because if there’s one thing we’ve learned from the pandemic, two weeks from now, it’s going to be different again," said New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker, who also sits on the school board.
Every two weeks, Elicker and the rest of the school board meets, and the conversation about masks, he said, is ongoing.
"If we continue to move in this direction, we’ll make an assessment, and when the time is right, we’ll rescind that mask mandate," Elicker said.
Until then, New Haven schools are still working on getting the vaccination rates up
"The health department provides us with regular information about clinics and the availability of the vaccine, we send those out on a weekly basis," said Justin Harmon, Director of Marketing and Communications for New Haven Public Schools.
And it's working. COVID cases are going down. This week, there have been three COVID cases in New Haven public schools. Two weeks ago, there was a handful. But months ago, those numbers were at least in the 70s, if not 80s, according to Harmon.
"Let’s get our kids vaccinated, and let’s get to the point where we feel we can confidently lift the mask mandate," Harmon said.
But for Goldson, there needs to be a light at the end of the tunnel…a metric the city can reach.
"There’s no hope with unforeseeable future, there’s no goal for us to look forward to," Goldson said.
Julia LeBlanc is a reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached at jleblanc@fox61.com Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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