During the San Mateo Union High School District board meeting on May 5, the Board voted 4-1 to realign with the masking guidelines put forth by the California Department of Public Health, effective on June 1. Currently, the CDPH states that wearing masks at businesses and institutions is “strongly recommended,” but not mandated.
Originally, SMUHSD Superintendent Kevin Skelly had put forward a proposition to lift the official mask mandate and shift to “strongly recommended,” effective on May 9. However, the Board was not entirely supportive of this idea.
“There is [still] an increase [in cases],” said Board Trustee Greg Land during the April 21 meeting. “I’m really hesitant to make any changes.”
Trustee Linda Dwyer also expressed concern over the logistics of lifting the mandate.
“We’re going to make this change with just a few weeks [of school] to go, but these few weeks are laden with events,” Dwyer said during the April 21 meeting. “If we change our position now, we’ll increase exposure for a lot of people.”
Imagine what’s going to happen if [cases] continue and [the virus] spreads further
The comparison of COVID-19 cases after two prom dances hosted by Aragon High School and San Mateo High School on April 9 was brought forth during the April 21 and May 5 board meeting. While most of the logistics of the two dances were nearly identical, San Mateo High School’s prom strongly recommended masking, while Aragon required masks for all attendees. San Mateo High School recorded 83 positive cases while Aragon recorded six positive cases the week after the dance.
“Imagine what’s going to happen if [cases] continue and [the virus] spreads further,” Land said during the April 21 meeting. “[Students] are going to be missing out on activities and that’s unfortunate. I would not like to see that happen.”
Skelly’s proposal garnered mixed reactions from the community. Public commentator Wendy Mendoza supported Skelly’s recommendation.
“I don’t think masking is what’s saving us or hurting us,” Mendoza said during the May 5 board meeting. “But if we eliminate it, it would be a benefit to all the students who would like to have at least a couple weeks of seeing their friends, seeing their teachers’ [faces] and having a normal school experience as we go into the summer.”
Dr. Heidi Stroessner-Johnson, SMUHSD parent and doctor at Mills-Peninsula Hospital, disagreed.
“We hear that counts aren’t going up, but we’ve never had this many COVID-19 positive patients in our practice,” Stroessner-Johnson said during the May 5 board meeting. “We are in a much better position … [but], there’s no way cases won’t go up if … masking at school [loosens]. [Students] have a lot riding on these tests and performances in these last three weeks.”
Board President Peter Hanley expressed his conflicted feelings on the issue.
“Today, we hit exactly one million deaths in the United States,” Hanley said during the May 5 meeting. “We have 4% of the [world] population, [but] 20% of the deaths. I’m somewhat torn by this because I’ve been a strong advocate for keeping masks in place, but I also think we need to align at some point with where the rest of the school districts have gone.”
We [have] a lot of multi-generational households … and [people who] if they don’t go to work [because they are sick], they [can’t] pay their rent or feed their families
Skelly modified his proposal to continue requiring masks for the rest of the school year, then align with the state policy beginning with summer school.
Trustee Ligia Andrade Zúñiga was the only board member who voted against the motion to align with the CDPH unmasking guidelines on May 5.
“We have people in our community [who are] vulnerable,” Zúñiga said. “We [have] a lot of multi-generational households … and [people who] if they don’t go to work [because they are sick], they [can’t] pay their rent or feed their families.”
Public commentator and SMUHSD parent Christine Chambers believed lifting the mask mandate will bring more inconveniences to her family.
“If my daughter [gets] sick from unmasked students, I can’t adequately isolate her and will likely get sick myself as a widow and solo parent,” Chambers said during the May 5 board meeting. “I don’t have other help.”
Zúñiga believes that a community-focused mindset would help reduce transmission.
“The majority of our students and families are definitely conscientious,” Zúñiga said. “But there is a percentage of people who don’t care. If I saw that changing, if I saw that people were going to be honest about wearing [their] masks if they’re not vaccinated, and if I knew that everyone was on board with protecting each other, then maybe I would be more comfortable [with lifting the mask mandate].”
Mandated masking will be lifted starting June 1 and throughout the 11 weeks of summer school.
