Southampton School Board Weighs Mask Mandate Options

Tension rose during a recent Southampton School Board meeting when Vice President SunHe Sherwood-Dudley opened up a discussion on whether the district should ask parents to weigh in on the state-imposed mask mandate for their children — even without the authority to lift it.

“Being that we’re at 90 percent vaccination, there are several districts on the island that have joined a lawsuit against the mask mandates,” she said. “I’m not suggesting that we jump on that, but I would be really interested in polling our community and seeing how they feel about the masks.”

In August, Governor Kathy Hochul mandated that masks be worn by students and staff at schools across New York and called for COVID-19 vaccines to be mandatory for school staff, with an option of weekly COVID-19 testing. According to Superintendent of Schools Nicholas Dyno, 63 out of nearly 500 employees have opted out of receiving the vaccine and, so far, the district has 100 percent compliance in reporting weekly testing.

Without full staff cooperation, the district would be fined $1,000 per violation per day, explained Jean Mingot, the assistant superintendent for business — though he said he is unaware of a penalty if the district were to stop enforcing the mask mandate, as asked by School Board President Jacqueline Robinson.

“Mr. Mingot, would there be any financial ramifications if we were to put it out there that, totally hypothetically, I’m not saying this is going to happen, but if we were to say, ‘You have a choice’?” she said.

“No wait, I’m not saying that,” Ms. Sherwood-Dudley interjected. “If the community says, ‘We want choice,’ I’m not saying that we need to take down the masks. But I am saying that, as a board, we could advocate to the state to fight against the mandate, that’s all — whether it’s calling all of our local representatives, calling the department, advocating locally.”

Southampton High School Principal Brian Zahn encouraged the board to exercise caution, pointing to students and staff members who support the masking policy and want to enforce it — and keeping the peace with those who believe the opposite.

“We’re trying to find that happy medium for everyone, where we’re making sure everyone’s safe, but at the same time, we’re in compliance with the mandate,” he said. “So I just don’t want to upset that balance right now and cause a little bit more of a challenge in a very challenging situation. So I’d just ask to be mindful, with whatever we put out, of the balancing act that we’re trying to navigate at the high school level right now.”

“I understand that,” Ms. Sherwood-Dudley replied, “but in the same token, I’m willing to make the assumption that outside of school, most people are not wearing masks that frequently. With the amount of air purification that we do, social distancing that we do, everything that we’re doing, school has been proven to not be a high transmissible area. Even when you look at the contact tracing from last year, it’s not like it was passed from person to person. I think the data is conflicting to some of the information that we’re getting.”

She then criticized the policy when there are large gatherings of people who go unmasked, such as concertgoers, and even some of her fellow School Board members — “I’m not judging here,” she said — who purposefully lower them to speak, or fail to correct them when they slip below their noses.

“Our children are being forced to wear masks,” she said. “To me, that’s disturbing, when I think of the only place in their life right now is they’re wearing them to school, which is probably the last place they should be wearing them — especially the elementary kids, especially!”

Board member Cara Conklin-Wingfield sought clarification on Ms. Sherwood-Dudley’s request, asking whether she supported joining a lawsuit, to which she did not get a straight answer — “If it goes in the direction that the community prefers to have choice and would like us to join, then yes, but I’m not looking to join into a lawsuit,” she replied — and also urged discretion moving forward.

“We’re operating under a mandate, so we have to be very, as Dr. Zahn said, very, very careful about the message we put out, because we really have no authority to lift that mask mandate,” Ms. Conklin-Wingfield said. “That’s correct, right? So we’d be asking opinions when we can’t really take any action at this point.”

Ms. Sherwood-Dudley agreed, saying that if the parent community didn’t support the mandate, the board could advocate on their behalf to the state. “I’m not suggesting that we disobey,” she said, “although, if our community feels that the masks should be optional, I could take a bigger stand.”

“I think it’s a problem. I think people should have a choice, that’s all,” she added. “And I’m not gonna put my opinions on everybody, but I would love to poll the community. If the community prefers to keep the masks on, fine. I’m not looking to start a fight. I’m looking to do the best for our children.”

Mr. Dyno suggested composing a survey and distributing it to parents and older students, noting that while a 20 to 25 percent response rate is considered successful, past surveys related to COVID-19 have garnered up to a 50 percent response.

“The reality is, by the time we get the results, we don’t know where we’re going to be,” Board member Anastasia Gavalas said. “We don’t know what’s gonna be the mandate, we don’t know what the state’s gonna be saying or not saying. I think it’s wise to gather the information, I really do. I’d like to know how the community feels.”