SOUTH HADLEY — Masks will be required in South Hadley schools when students and staff return this fall, though town officials have shied away from implementing a municipal mandate.
At a meeting of the town’s School Committee on Aug. 5, members voted unanimously to uphold a mask mandate implemented a year before in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. With coronavirus cases rising in South Hadley and other nearby communities as the virulent delta variant of the virus surges, new schools Superintendent Jahmal Mosley recommended that the committee keep the mask mandate.
“If we can practice good habits of wearing a mask and following the CDC recommendations, the longer we can stay in person, in school, full time 180 days,” Mosley said, referring to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “This is not about the vaccinated versus the unvaccinated. This is about us as a community coming together, thinking about the community, and being each other’s keepers.”
At the Select Board’s recent meeting, members also discussed the importance of wearing masks to stop the spread of the virus. Town Administrator Michael Sullivan noted that residents are being urged to wear masks in town buildings, which he said is based on sound public health policy.
“We’re not asking you to do this because we’re trying to be punitive, mean-spirited, follow any political allegiance or anything,” Sullivan said. “Please just wear a mask, whether you’re vaccinated or not vaccinated. All the rest of the debate can wait.”
Sullivan and other town officials, however, have not implemented a mask mandate.
Sullivan, who said that “98%” of residents are cooperative with the mask request, said that because the governor has lifted a state of emergency, town officials don’t feel that they have any way to cite residents for noncompliance with a mask order. He and other Select Board members said they felt that asking people to do the right thing would lead to greater compliance.
“We’re trying to encourage people to make the decision so that we’re not forced to take those drastic measures,” Select Board member Andrea Miles said.
Sullivan said that there has been a “small, vocal portion that wants to make a statement” by refusing pleas to wear a mask. He said he suspected those same people would defy any mask mandate from the town, and that South Hadley is therefore working to convince people that it’s the right thing to do from a public health standpoint.
At a Select Board meeting this month, Sullivan said South Hadley had 19 cases in the previous 14 days.
“Our COVID-19 cases have increased two weeks in a row by significant numbers, I’d say,” Sullivan said. “We’re experiencing what most other communities in the region are experiencing — a certain uptick in COVID cases.”