Masks off? Portsmouth schools may change policy. Community views are split.

PORTSMOUTH — Face masks may soon become optional inside Portsmouth schools, according to city superintendent Steve Zadravec.

With local coronavirus test positivity rates and case counts “falling pretty dramatically,” Zadravec said, he may recommend to the city School Board next month to end the requirement to wear masks, though he doesn't yet have a date for when the change would take effect.

A recent online petition is calling on the Portsmouth School District to "unmask" city students, who have been required to wear face masks indoors across all grade levels for the entire 2021-22 school year amid ongoing substantial spread of the COVID-19 in the community, which is now subsiding locally and nationally after a winter surge fueled by the omicron variant of the virus. 

'Ideal leader':Portsmouth's Steve Zadravec hired as next SAU 50 superintendent of schools

More:Portsmouth School Board selects Zachary McLaughlin as next superintendent of schools

“By our metrics last August, it would be fair to consider a mask-optional policy if those trends continue,” Zadravec wrote in an email response to questions Monday. “In addition to the metrics last August, we now have high vaccination rates and low case numbers in our schools locally. These are also important factors to take into consideration, and if these trends continue as expected, I will be recommending a shift to a mask-optional policy.”

'Parents to make the choice':Hampton schools to go mask optional starting March 7

Zadravec will give a presentation to the nine-person Portsmouth School Board at its March 8 meeting, shortly after students return from a scheduled break, about the current state of COVID-19.

With the availability of COVID-19 vaccines to children ages 5 and up, Zadravec said the mask-optional policy, when it happens, will be for all students. He said the date for the possible change will be discussed at the March 8 meeting.

Any district-wide shift to an optional-mask policy would include plans to respond to a possible future case cluster within a city school or any increase in COVID-19 cases, he added.

Hampton schools announced a plan to go mask optional March 7, and Somersworth schools are making the change April 1. A number of other local districts are in discussions about going mask optional.

Views on masks in schools are split

School Board chairwoman Nancy Clayburgh said Monday that emails the entire board receives about face mask usage are nearly split between those wanting to ditch the requirement and those in favor of keeping rules in place.

“There are a lot of people out there that still would like to see the kids wearing masks at school,” she said. “It’s not a unanimous decision.”

In August, before the current academic year started, the previous School Board set an indoor mask-wearing policy premised on the level of community COVID-19 transmission within Rockingham County, with data taken from the state’s Department of Health and Human Services. The conversation occurred amid the spread of the COVID-19 delta variant. 

From last summer:'I am shocked': Portsmouth schools set data-based mask rules as debate turns emotional

Under a “substantial” level of county community spread, which has been the case the entire school year and remains so, all K-12 Portsmouth students are required to wear masks indoors. Substantial transmission is when the test positivity rate is greater than 10% over the past week or if there are more than 100 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people in the prior two weeks.

SAU 52’s discussion on mask policy is scheduled to occur after the city of Portsmouth recently rescinded a public indoor mask directive.

“That factor could possibly play into our decision about the masks,” Clayburgh said.

An online petition titled “Unmask Portsmouth, NH Schools” was created over the weekend and addressed to Zadravec. Since its posting, the petition has over 250 virtual signatures in support.

The petition’s author, Stacey Moss, wrote, “It is time to unmask our children in Portsmouth, NH. The superintendent and school board need to hear from us as parents!”

County-level coronavirus data provided by the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services states there is an 8.5% test positivity rate in Rockingham County over the last week. Along with a “substantial” transmission rate, which each New Hampshire County is registered as having, there have been 334.1 new cases per 100,000 people in the county over the past two weeks.

At last count, on Friday, Feb. 18, SAU 52 reported 14 active coronavirus cases across all six city schools and the Portsmouth Early Education Program.