Tuesday, Feb. 15, Harrisonburg City School (HCPS) Superintendent Dr. Michael Richards announced the updated mask policy within city schools. Beginning March 1, masks will become optional in K-12 schools. 

“As a staff, we know that it’s time to start talking about taking masks off. I asked the school board if I could have permission to explore a scientific way of making masks more optional. When community and school transmission of the virus gets to [a certain] level, we’ll say masks are optional,” Richards said.

While Richards explored options, he was offered little guidance by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) regarding a safe way to operate without masks. Then, Governor Glenn Youngkin signed bill 739, into effect that would allow parents to opt their children out of school mask mandates.

“We’ve followed the CDC guidance all the way through the pandemic but unfortunately, the CDC let us down on masks. They never provided any guidance on how we can start making them optional. While I was working on this plan to do it scientifically, the new Governor in Richmond was working on [a] legislation to make it illegal to have any kind of mask requirement. That passed on Monday (Feb. 14), so after March 1 there will be no mask requirement in Virginia for any students,” Richards said.

The governor’s decision forced the school board to make masks optional. 

“We wanted to continue following the science of public health experts, but now the new law is not going to allow us to do that. We’re going to have to go mask optional on March 1,” Richards said.

Students must now remain out of school for ten days if they choose not to wear a mask when they return. This causes more missed school and loss of valuable in-person teaching. 

“The biggest way it will affect us is we’re still using CDC guidance for isolation and quarantine. Isolation means you’re positive with the virus and you have to stay away from people. Quarantine means you’ve been exposed to someone who’s positive, but the virus and therefore you have to stay away from people but you don’t have the virus. The CDC guidance says that you [must] isolate or quarantine for only five days and stay out five days, [and] when you come back, you have to wear a mask for five days,” Richards said.

Currently, the amount of time a student is out depends on exposure and vaccination. The new policy will change this as they cannot require masks anymore.

“The problem with this law now is that I can’t require anybody to wear a mask for those five days. This is a new idea but so what will happen is let’s say [a student] gets the virus. And Dr. Hensley says [they] need to stay all five days, and when [they] come back,  the student needs to wear a mask for five days. When they return, they say they don’t want to wear a mask. So then Dr. Hensley says they will have to come back in 10 days. I want kids to only stay out five days at the most but there are situations with parents saying their child does not wear a mask. When they come back from isolation or quarantine, then [we] have to say I’m sorry, you can’t come back for five more days. That’s a lot of missed school, when otherwise you wouldn’t have to,” Richard said. 

Richards believes that residents of the Harrisonburg community will likely adhere to public health recommendations that will mitigate the number of days that students miss due to COVID precautions. 

“We’re fortunate in Harrisonburg that people [are] likely to follow the public health experts advice. I worry that there will be kids out longer than they need to be because they refuse to wear a mask when they come back from isolation or quarantine,” Richards said. “I don’t want them to miss five more days of school. I don’t think [it will be] widespread in Harrisonburg. I think that in our city for the most part, people will understand the reason for it and will follow the guidance.”

At the high school, principal Dr. Melissa Hensley has been asked by students if they are still allowed to wear masks in school despite the fact that they are no longer required. 

“I’m hearing two things from students and one is [if they can] still wear a mask. Students certainly [can do that]. The Governor [has] put a plan in place that allows families to make that decision and so students can certainly take it off,” Hensley said. “[We will still] encourage social distancing and all of those precautions [such as] washing your hands frequently and social distancing.”

Hensley recommends that any student who is concerned for their personal safety and health continues to follow previously installed protocols. 

“If you’re worried about your safety in school, again, we go back to the control of the things you can control. If you’re worried about your safety, wear a mask, make sure that you’re socially distancing and keep washing your hands, take advantage of the hand sanitizer stations [because] these are things you can control,” Hensley said. “I think that that is the key point, everybody’s going to be doing what they feel is best for themselves and you have to take the steps and follow the CDC protocols and recommendations in terms of how to keep [yourself safe].”