Special BOE meeting offers no final decision (yet) as community debates school masking policies

On the night of August 11, and just one month out from the official beginning of school, a special Board of Education (BOE) meeting was held to discuss the reopening plans of the Northport-East Northport School District for the 2021-2022 school year. High expectations abounded, with many community members anticipating a BOE decision regarding such highly contentious issues as masking and remote education. Not two minutes in, however, Superintendent of Schools Robert Banzer put the anticipation to rest: “We will not be making a decision tonight,” he said.

Mr. Banzer began by presenting the BOE and fellow community members with an update on the state of Covid-19 in New York, Suffolk County, and within specific zip codes. As of August 11, hospitalizations were up 230% in the state, with the Suffolk County daily positivity rate at 4.7%. In the 11768 zip code, 68.9% of residents are fully vaccinated; in the 11731 zip code, the same measurement comes in at 65.1%. Throughout the presentation, the BOE was clear in its community-wide goal, with the same adage posted on every slide, “District priority: health and safety and in-person teaching and learning.”

As the meeting progressed, conclusions did arise, however small and variable. The BOE decided that all plastic barriers would be removed from student desks, not to return again. As well, the board stated that social distancing guidelines would be reduced from six feet to three, as per the CDC. Contact tracing and involuntary quarantine would not be needed if a student came in contact with an infected individual, given the student was three feet away and “consistently and correctly” wearing a mask.

The advent of the Delta variant, a strain of Covid-19 twice as transmissible as the Alpha variant, coupled with the lack of rooted guidance from the state, has made what many hoped would be a seamless transition back to school uncertain, and emotional, for many. On the week of July 18, the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics simultaneously released updated guidance for the 2021-2022 school year. Soon after, the New York State Department of Health released a statement instructing districts to “follow guidance from CDC and local health departments.” On August 9, the Suffolk County Department of Health Services released updated guidance recommending “universal mask wearing for all students, staff, and visitors in school and on buses, regardless of vaccination status.”

Also a consideration, although not mentioned at the meeting, is the upcoming transition in leadership in state government, with New York’s governor-to-be, Kathy Hochul, set to replace Governor Andrew Cuomo in less than two weeks.

Approximately 80 community members were in person yesterday evening; some of those expressed pride, some disappointment in the public showing. Over 900 Zoom participants signed into the meeting at some point, with many complaining on social media of a recurring problem in the district’s livestreams: poor to nonexistent audibility due to persistent technical issues.

Though various advisements, suggestions and guidelines were presented in person (anyone wishing to speak had to be present at the meeting), it is ultimately the board’s decision alone that will shape the route of this upcoming school year.

And while it seemed the Northport-East Northport community was in total unanimity regarding remote education (that it is no substitute for the real thing, and that in-person learning should be prioritized), the issue of masking was far more divisive, to say the least.

In his opening statement, board president Dr. Larry Licipoli commented on the polarity of this issue. Of the 84 emails the BOE has recently received from community members, Dr. Licipoli explained, 40 called for universal mask wearing, while 44 called for parental choice. With this statistic presented to the audience, the public comment section of the meeting was ushered in.

The first to comment, Christina Yacobellis, a community member and advocate of the organization “Unmask Our Children,” wielding a lawn sign bearing the same message, began her time at the podium by having all fellow supporters stand up, with a majority of the room rising in solidarity.

“We are not here to ask you to remove masks completely,” Christina began. “We have a message for all the parents that oppose optional mask-wearing: we would never demand for you to send your child without a mask on, so please reciprocate the same courtesy to the opposing side. We are simply asking for parental choice. We have the right to choose what is best for our children.”

Those community members who support what has been deemed the “parental choice” position believe that, just as parents make decisions for their children throughout early adolescence (bedtime, diet, television programming, and the like), the issue of masking should be no different. A second speaker, Karen Randolph, echoed Yacobellis’ sentiments, stating, “We do not co-parent with the government.”

Other pro-parental choice opinions expressed at the meeting included that masks stunt social development in the elementary ages, as social cues like smiling are covered by cloth; students can have difficulty breathing; masks are dangerous in the event of a heat wave; masks generate anxiety among students, especially in younger children; data is inconclusive regarding the efficacy of mask-wearing; masks hinder a true education and inadvertently silence students; and that a normal childhood experience is absolutely crucial to human development, with masks representing the abnormal.

As for the opposition – what has been called the “universal masking” position – proponents typically invoked the health and safety of all students and staff, relying on science and data that support continued use of masks for children.

As one community member described, the parental choice of masking is “logically secondary” to the issue at hand. Citing drunk driving and smoking as analogous to their present debate – the fact that both these activities result in harm to those around you, despite the decision to partake being a personal one – the parental choice of masking affects everyone in your vicinity, and is not conducive to a safe and healthy learning environment. “If it [masking] keeps my family safe, I will do it,” she said.

By the meeting's end, 27 speakers stepped up to the microphone and shared their varying opinions on the state of masking in our schools: 20 of the 27 spoke in favor of parental choice; seven spoke in favor of universal masking.

“I just want to thank the community for your input into this very complicated issue,” said Dr. Licipoli. “We were able to go through this process with people expressing their positions and feelings and perspectives about masking in a very respectful manner. That is what I feel, in terms of being proud of the community, because that hasn’t been the same in some other school districts… It was very valuable to us as we now try to discuss and think about what we are going to do.”

According to district officials, the board intends to hold a meeting prior to its regularly scheduled August 26 meeting to render a final decision regarding the reopening plans. “A date has not yet been set and this is subject to change,” said officials.