AUGUSTA — Grace Kirk stood once again in front of the Augusta Board of Education on Wednesday, and asked members to move forward with lifting the mandate to make masks optional for students and staff members as omicron cases decline across the state.

“Since March 13, 2020, we have been selfless,” said Grace Kirk, a senior at Cony High School. “We have given up sport sessions, class performances, even our in-person classes at times, all to keep people safe. We struggled to understand why we were the ones to struggle so much when our demographic wasn’t at risk.”

Kirk spoke previously at the Feb. 9 Board of Education meeting, when at the time, masks were mandatory but state officials advised the possibility of a change in the guidelines was not too far away.

And Wednesday, after nearly two years, the Augusta Public Schools, as well as several other schools across central Maine, voted to remove the indoor mask mandate for staff and students effective immediately.

The vote came the same day as Gov. Janet Mill’s administration recommended lifting the mask mandate inside the state’s schools, starting next Wednesday, a week from when the announcement was made. However, school boards had the ability to make the change immediately, which most did.

Several other people at Augusta’s board of education special meeting spoke in support of removing the masks and survey results shared by administration gave a similar response on behalf of students, staff and parents who responded. Out of the 834 students that responded in grades five through 12, 72.9% were in favor of making masks optional. For staff, the 258 that responded were 65% in favor of making masks optional and for the 1,294 parents who responded, 81% were in favor of making masks optional.

Based on the responses from the community, state officials and the public, Augusta Superintendent James Anastasio was in support of making masks optional for students and staff. He originally recommended the mandate be lifted Friday, but after hearing from principals who believed students would come to school Thursday without them, the board made the mandate lift effective immediately and all members voted unanimously in favor.

“From a disciplinary standpoint, of the incidents that come across my desk, 80% began with confrontations over masks,” Anastasio said. “Students are tired of teachers saying to pull their masks up and teachers are tired of saying to pull it up. I think it’s time for that to end. But COVID-19 will probably never be gone, but we have in place many things we haven’t had previously, like the ability to vaccinate, new medications to limit the effectiveness of the virus, those things came with time and research.”

Meanwhile, several other school districts in central Maine have quickly been following suit.

For Readfield-based Regional School Unit 38, though, there is public disagreement over voting on the mask mandate. RSU 38 includes Readfield, Wayne, Mount Vernon and Manchester.

The official motion states masks will be optional immediately and will go back to universal masking if Kennebec County enters into the high-risk category. Board Member Jade Parker added for students and staff who choose to wear a mask that they receive a KN95 mask, which provides better protection than surgical and cloth masks, from the school.

The board voted to lift the mandate, but were divided in doing so — David Guillemette, Dane Wing, Parker, Cathy Jacobs, Patty Gordon, Rebecca Lambert, Betty Morrell and David Twitchell, voted in favor of the mandate. Keltie Beaudoin and Tyler Dunn abstained and Dane Wing and Shawn Roderick voted against it. 

Roderick said he voted against the motion because he believed “all students should be supported” and the board should “not be talking about if masks are right or not.” He also does not think it is “professional” to talk to students on their parent’s decisions regarding health and safety.

Before Wednesday’s meeting, like Augusta, the district sent out a survey to staff members for them to share their input on the matter and received at least 20 pages in responses, most with mixed feelings and some, worried for their health and safety.

One parent spoke on how her daughter is immunocompromised and extremely worried about the mandate being lifted and another, Laurel Parker, a medical professional who frequently voices her opinion at board meetings in favor of the masks, asked the board four questions to keep in mind.

“How do you expect the staff school based on the responses (from the survey), how are we going to revisit if things change? How often will it be assessed if we do remove masks? How is it fair a child could bring COVID-19 and potentially pass it on to others?” Laurel Parker asked.

In the Winthrop Public Schools, a two-hour-long discussion Wednesday on the mask mandate ended with a decision to go mask-optional, but not until March 9 at the earliest and March 14 at the latest, so school administrators can gather the information they need.

Superintendent Jim Hodgkin advised the decision is one in favor of the staff and students’ health and safety.

“I understand people’s frustration in wanting to move forward quickly, especially around us making masks optional,” he said. “It has never been political, it has 100% been a public safety issue and this is going to change, not because of politics, it’s changing because people we trust are leading us in decisions regarding medical decisions.”

Thorndike-based Regional School Unit 3 will move to optional masking on March 7, an announcement from Superintendent Charles Brown said. The decision made by the school’s health office is to allow a week between returning from break to make sure there is not an uptick in cases.

Maine School Administrative District 11 made masking optional at a special board meeting on Monday following recommendation from the board’s COVID-19 health advisory committee.

The Hallowell and Monmouth schools that are a part of Regional School Unit 2 went mask optional Monday since they are a part of Kennebec County which at this point in time, is a medium risk for COVID-19 spread.

A school board of directors meeting will be held Thursday night at 6 p.m. over Zoom to make a formal decision over schools in Dresden and Richmond, which are a part of RSU 2, but in Lincoln and Sagadahoc County, respectively, and therefore are in high-risk areas.

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