Norwich school board to consider elimination of school mask mandates Thursday
Norwich — The Board of Education will hold a special meeting Thursday to discuss and possibly vote whether to continue mask wearing in schools beyond the Feb. 28 date when Gov. Ned Lamont plans to end the statewide mandate.
The board will meet online via Zoom at 5:30 p.m. with the sole agenda item: “Discussion and Possible Action regarding the mask mandate.” The board canceled a meeting on the issue last week to allow time to receive state state guidance on the issue, Chairman Robert Aldi said.
Aldi drew criticism from parent activist Christina Carter, who complained that Thursday's meeting should be in person and that the meeting has not been publicized sufficiently.
As of Monday, the city’s website calendar listed the meeting but not the agenda and online link. To find those, a person must go to the Board of Education page on the website, click on a listing of agendas and minutes and open another link to the BoardDocs page.
Carter also complained the meeting was not posted on the Norwich Public Schools or Board of Education Facebook pages.
Aldi said Monday he chose to schedule an online meeting, because the mask issue can be emotional and volatile. He said other local school boards have held the discussion online, including public comment. He said in-person meetings in towns have resulted in emotional, disruptive behavior.
“This was the best way to maintain civility and to give the broadest possible audience a chance to give comments in a safe, nonjudgmental way,” Aldi said. “And it will give the Board of Education a chance to reach a decision that is best for the whole Norwich Public Schools community, the students and faculty and staff.”
Carter said Aldi’s decision to hold the meeting online was a way to stifle public comment. Butr Aldi said public comment is on the agenda and will be taken prior to the board discussion and possible vote.
“There are going to people who agree and people who disagree,” Aldi said. “This is a very emotional issue, and the emotions can be very detrimental to the progress of the meeting.”
Local boards of education are taking up the mask mandate issue in the wake of an announcement by Lamont that he planned to lift the mask mandate for schools on Feb. 28 if the legislature agreed to extend his executive powers through that date, which it did.
Norwich Superintendent Kristen Stringfellow told the school board at its Feb. 8 meeting that the board only would need to vote on school masks if it wished to continue requiring masks, as the state mandate will end automatically Feb. 28.
Norwich City Manager John Salomone also is expected to decide at the end of this week whether to continue the mask mandate for city offices. Salomone reinstated the mandate with the onset of the omicron COVID-19 surge in late fall. At the time, and with cases spiking among staff, city police and paid fire departments also shut their doors to the public, and City Council meetings returned to online only public access.
Salomone said if local COVID-19 cases continue to drop, he will recommend lifting the mask mandate and resuming in-person City Council meetings.
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