The Smile Campaign: An Antidote To The Mask Mandate's Impact On Southampton School Kids

Southampton Village Police Officer Tiffany Lubold misses seeing faces — a tentative youth’s grin stretch into a big, toothy smile. The Southampton School District resource officer, along with her partner, Police Officer Lisa McCulley, took note of the effect of wearing masks on students in the district. They noticed, too, that the isolation wrought by remote learning and pandemic-prompted social distancing strictures had an impact on the kids the pair interacts with.

“Lisa and I haven’t been able to be in the classroom as much, and we’ve been thinking of things, ways to engage our kids,” she explained, pointing out that remote learning days have limited their in-person time with students.

Thinking about the impact of day after day of students’, teachers’ and staff member’s facial expressions obscured by masks, she said, “It’s almost like a zombie apocalypse.”

“There’s a social and emotional and mental toll to this,” she said.

To address the toll, the pair decided to embark on a “Smile Campaign.”

With a green light from Southampton School Superintendent Dr. Nicholas Dyno, and high school librarian Theresa Ameres offering space to work, the pair set about collecting smiling photos of every member of the school community — from pre-K tots to security guards to building administrators to cafeteria workers and teachers — and emblazoning the pictures on pin-back buttons they can wear. Now, even with their faces covered, those they interact with can see them smile.

As of Friday, February 5, the pair had completed about 1,000 buttons. They plan to craft the photo brooches for staff and students at Our Lady of the Hamptons Regional Catholic School in Southampton, as well, and have spoken with personnel at the East Hampton School District, who are interested in bringing the idea there, too.

“It appears the East Hampton High School is going to attempt to launch their own Smile Campaign,” Officer Lubold said on Monday. “We will work with them to help get it going.”

“There’s such a rewarding feeling behind this, I love that other people want to do it,” she said. “Anything to acknowledge the place we’re in right now, and the need for joy in our day. The whole goal is to bring about a smile.”

And smiles are actually necessary for emotional wellbeing.

While emotions are legible across the whole face, studies show that humans pay special attention to the mouth, particularly when it comes to positive emotions, according to an article in the May 19 edition of Psychology Today. “Smiles are one of the richest sources of emotional information, but we’re currently living in a world with limited access to them,” wrote contributing author Dr. Carolyn Purnell. She notes only 14 percent of people smile fewer than five times per day.

But when those smiles are hidden behind a mask, it can increase anxiety and decrease trust in children.

“The social referencing aspects involved with a child’s development, or the emotional communication we so naturally rely upon, to support our students emotionally and socially, is significantly impacted with having to wear these masks,” according to Tricia Desiderio, assistant superintendent of student services at the Southampton School District. “Students’ ability to regulate their responses, as well as the staff’s ability to regulate theirs, based on facial expressions, is now all the more reliant on tone of voice and eye contact in lieu of facial expressions.”

“We are so grateful for Smile Campaign efforts from Officer Tiffany and Officer Lisa,” High School Principal Dr. Brian Zahn said in an email message. “Because of their continuous presence in our schools, they see firsthand the social, emotional impact that this pandemic is having on our students and staff. We know that body language, specifically smiles, can have an enormously positive impact on students and staff in our school. Unfortunately, mask wearing has taken away our ability to connect with students through simply sharing a smile with them when needed.”

He noted that by using creative buttons, the campaign is already making a difference.

“Many students have engaged in fun, lighthearted interactions with me just because I was wearing mine,” he said. “It is our hope that positivity will spread through the district and that masks will not prevent us from sharing a smile.”

Dr. Dyno said the initiative is “a way to remind all of us to smile underneath our masks.”

The superintendent described officers Lubold and McCulley as “amazing individuals who care a great deal about our students and staff.”

“We are so grateful to Southampton Village for placing them in our schools,” he said.