To Mask or Not To Mask? That is Question for Board of Ed Tonight

By Sushant Kunwar

Tonight, the Branford Board of Education will hold a public hearing to hear input from the school community about the future of the mask mandate in Branford Public Schools. 

This comes two weeks before the state mask mandate is set to end in Connecticut. Earlier last week, Governor Ned Lamont announced that the decision to require masks in schools will be determined by the individual school districts. 

“The public hearing portion of the meeting will allow the BOE to receive comments from the public as well as certain experts,” says Board of Education Chairman Peter Berdon. “The Board will listen to these comments and weigh them together [with] all the other evidence that we receive, emails, articles, surveys and other documents.”

The purpose of the meeting is to hear input. It is unclear when a final decision will be made by the board.

As expected, there have been many ongoing discussions regarding what should be done. This is a topic shrouded in controversy, and the opinions are split leading up to the public hearing. While some want to end the mask mandate for an expedited return to normalcy, others seem more cautious.

Both sides––those in favor of lifting the mandate and those against lifting it––have been vocal about their opinions. More than 670 votes were cast in a poll ran by the Branford Buzz, which showed about 53% in favor of eliminating the mask mandate and 47% in favor of keeping the mandate.

The meeting will be held at Walsh Intermediate School at 6 p.m. and members of the BPS community – students and parents – are welcome to share their thoughts and opinion on the matter.

With the tensions rising leading up to it, the meeting will be crucial in determining a valuable aspect of the learning environment for many students.