Gov. Ned Lamont is lifting the state’s mask mandate in schools.

During a news conference Monday afternoon, Lamont said that with Connecticut’s current COVID-19 outlook and mitigation strategies in place — primarily vaccinations — it was time.

"My recommendation is we end the statewide mask mandate as of February 28th,” Lamont said. “The protocol for masks to be worn in schools and childcare centers as of the 28th will no longer be by order of the state of Connecticut. it will be up to you.”

Lamont added that it will be up to schools, superintendents, boards of education and mayors to decide whether to require masking in schools. Asked to clarify who ultimately makes the decision, Fran Rabinowitz, the executive director of the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents, said school districts make that call.

“My hope would be that superintendents would make that in concert with their local public health director,” Rabinowitz said.

 Lamont is asking the legislature to extend 11 executive orders related to COVID-19, as his emergency powers are set to expire Feb. 15. No matter the outcome, he said, school masking will be up to local control come Feb. 28. But, he said, he’s reserving the right to keep the mandate in place in case the health situation becomes untenable between today and Feb. 28.

“We are in a very different place now than we were two years ago,” Public Health Commissioner Manisha Juthani said. “We have so many tools at our disposal in order to protect ourselves and our communities, with the number one thing being vaccination.”

Lamont acknowledged, though, “that there are a fair number of schools where teachers may not feel as comfortable coming in unless they keep that mask mandate a little bit longer.”

Matthew Conway, president-elect of the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents’ Board of Directors, said he expects superintendents and boards of education to be prepared to be decision-makers on masking because of how agile the state’s education system has been in response to the pandemic.

“We have two and a half weeks to discuss this with our communities as we get guidance,” Conway said.

Juthani said schools will receive guidance from her department as to how to go about deciding whether to maintain a mask mandate.

Republican Senate Leader Kevin Kelly, R-Stratford, and Senate Republican Leader Pro Tempore Paul Formica, R-East Lyme, sent out a statement shortly before the governor’s virtual news conference in which they called for an end to the governor’s executive powers “and restoration of local decision making and the legislative process.” Legislators are expected to take up the issue this week.

“We again call on the Governor ahead of this week’s proposed extension of his emergency powers to recognize that it is well beyond time to include the people’s voices in the process and end rule by executive order,” the two senators said. “When it comes to issues such as mandating masks in schools these are decisions that should not be made by one person in charge of one branch of government.”

Kelly and Formica called Lamont’s wish to extend his executive powers a “clearly politically motivated ask.”

On Monday morning, Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Stefanowski sent out a similar statement criticizing Lamont’s continued “executive authority over the state” and the mask mandate for schools.

“Most local mandates in Connecticut towns have been lifted for months,” Stefanowski said. “Now is the time to do the same in our schools by empowering parents to make this decision for their own children.”

s.spinella@theday.com