Leader Staff
The mandatory mask era for students attending the Everett Public Schools ended Monday night with a vote of the School Committee.
That vote coincided with the state ending mask mandates Monday, although it remained up to the individual communities to do what they believed was proper and right.
Parents of Everett’s public school children have the right or their children to wear masks in school if they see fit.
It is the same for teachers and administrators and for nearly all employees in the school system.
Mask mandates remain in force throughout the state’s public and private health systems.
Mask mandates remain in force at the former Whidden Hospital in Everett.
Individual school districts have the right to maintain a mask mandate.
Chelsea, for instance, will continue with the mask mandate into March.
Wearing the masks for so long has caused difficulties with students throughout school districts in the Commonwealth. Taking them off now requires dealing with this new reality. Should COVID-19 cases spike dramatically, as they did with Omicron in January, mask mandates could return.