WASHBURN, Maine — SAD 45 in Washburn became the latest school district in Aroostook County to switch from optional to mandatory masking after an emergency vote by the school board Tuesday evening.
The mask mandate passed with a 6-1 vote, with Ashli Bisson voting “no” and Bev Thomas choosing to abstain after expressing disapproval of the CDC mask recommendations. All but two of the 10 school board members were present for the meeting, held at the elementary school gym.
Like other school districts in Aroostook County, Washburn opted for the mask mandate to avoid a situation where large groups of students become close contacts of a COVID-19-positive person and get sent home. Districts who have mask mandates in place do not need to quarantine close contacts regardless of vaccination status.
The more than hour-long meeting featured many comments from community and school board members who either supported or opposed universal masking.
“I feel like the CDC is pushing us against a wall and giving us no choice [regarding masks],” Thomas said. “From the beginning, I’ve felt that we should trust parents to make the right decision.”
More than 20 people attended the meeting, including many parents who gave various reasons why they disapproved of a mask mandate.
Paul DuMont of Washburn read a letter from his son Damien, a ninth-grade student at Washburn District High School, in which Damien talks about the discomfort he feels from wearing a mask during the school day.
“If some students and staff want to wear a mask they can, but I know kids who don’t like to wear a mask all day,” DuMont read from his son’s letter.
Noreen McIntosh of Washburn, the grandmother of school board Chairperson Jeremiah McIntosh, said that while she respects the DuMonts’ opinions regarding masks, she wanted to remind people of the potentially deadly consequences of COVID-19 spread.
After reading the LA Times editorial “Here’s what the seven stages of COVID-19 look like on the front lines,” written by a respiratory therapist, Noreen McIntosh emphasized recent research on the delta variant leading to more serious infections in children.
“I personally have never heard of anyone dying from wearing a mask,” McIntosh said. “[Without masks] you’re playing Russian Roulette with children’s lives. COVID has led to scarred lungs and it can affect the brain and heart.”
After sending surveys to staff members, administrators found that 40 percent of high school staff approved of a universal mask policy while 30 percent disapproved and 30 percent did not respond to the survey.
At the elementary school, 37 percent of the 82 percent of staff who responded said they preferred masks, another 37 percent disapproved of masks and 27 percent had no preference.
Along with the survey results, Jeremiah McIntosh noted that advice from local medical professionals and the sharp increase in COVID-19 cases in central Aroostook motivated him to call the emergency meeting.
While SAD 45 has not reported positive cases, districts in Fort Fairfield, Easton, Mars Hill and Presque Isle have sent numerous students home to quarantine and have changed their mask policies from optional to required as a result. The nearby RSU 39 in Caribou switched to remote learning just days after the start of school due to two cases and at least 70 close contacts.
With the board’s vote, Washburn became the second-to-last school in central Aroostook to approve a mask mandate. SAD 32 in Ashland announced Thursday that it would require masks starting on their first day of classes Sept. 7.
Though many people, including himself, would like to keep masks optional, McIntosh said that the district must focus on keeping students in school and ensuring that the schools are in compliance with CDC recommendations.
“I have not found one medical expert who has said that masks are useless,” McIntosh said.
Renee Fournier, a pediatric physician at Northern Light AR Gould Hospital in Presque Isle, has been consulting with the SAD 45 board and said that she “highly recommends” a universal mask mandate.
Unlike the initial COVID-19 variant that affected The County, the delta variant has been spreading more rapidly among children, she said, noting that without masks schools could potentially become “super spreaders.”
“Last year we protected our elderly with masks and vaccines but we’re not protecting our kids at all,” Fournier said, in reference to optional masks. “The hospital has already seen a ton of positive cases among kids. We can’t wait to see what happens in each school district [before mandating masks].”
Bisson, who voted against the mandate, questioned how effective masks would become if young children do not wear them properly.
“When done right I think masks are okay, but I see adults who wear masks and then touch their faces. Try getting kids to not do that,” Bisson said.
Although masks will likely not prevent the district from seeing positive cases, superintendent and high school Principal Larry Worcester noted that most students complied with last year’s mask policy and did not require serious discipline.
Though the district could reverse the mask policy if cases in Aroostook lower again, Worcester said that for now the policy is intended to avoid a remote learning situation.
“Whether we like masks or not, it’s something we have to do to keep our schools open,” Worcester said.
SAD 45’s mask mandate officially went into effect Wednesday, Sept. 1. The next school board meeting will be held Tuesday, Sept. 14, at Washburn District Elementary School.
