Students and staff in the Upper Perkiomen School District may soon be permitted to remove their face masks. Last week, school board President Judith Maginnis directed Superintendent Allyn Roche to come up with an alternate plan to make mask wearing in school facilities optional.

            Maginnis directed the superintendent to make the presentation during the board's Feb. 24 workshop meeting. If the change is approved, the new mask wearing policy would go into effect.

            After the Feb. 10 regular meeting, Maginnis explained that she broached the issue with the goal of finding a way of making mask-wearing optional while keeping the students safe from the novel coronavirus. The board president said she was looking for the proverbial off-ramp on the highway of mandatory masking.

            "We can't do it forever," said Maginnis, a registered nurse. "I believe it's time to find a way to get masks off of children while keeping them safe."

            During the meeting, she referenced a statement from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia that declared that masks are effective in stopping the spread of COVID-19. She said district officials need to look at the local numbers and determine the district's risk tolerance.

            Masks have remained mandatory in all district buildings for the last 13 months, when the school returned to in-person learning. Administrators have been following pandemic rules set by the Montgomery County Office of Public Health since March 13, 2020, when in-person school was canceled, according to Maginnis.

            According to data presented by the superintendent, Montgomery County's 14-day positivity rate has dropped from 20.9 percent to 13.8 percent for the week ending Feb. 3. COVID-19 incidents from the six district municipalities over the same period dropped from 741.9 per thousand to 349.1. Through the first two weeks of February, the number of positive cases, close contacts and quarantined students in the district's five schools also decreased significantly.

            Roche described the figures as a positive sign. However, he pointed out that the district's community and transmission rate remain in the highest of four categories.?           Maginnis said she didn't believe the district could reach the positivity rate or the number of cases required that would allow the masks to become optional under the district's current health and safety plan. The board president described that goal as nearly unattainable.

            "I'd like to look at moving the goalpost closer," said Maginnis, employed by the Roberto Clemente Charter School in Allentown as its health services coordinator and pandemic coordinator, after the meeting.

            Members Melanie Cunningham and Dana Hipszer expressed their support for the idea. Keith McCarrick, a consistent critic of the efficacy of face masks, described the discussion as necessary.  "I'm not doing this to gain support or garner hate," McCarrick said of his insistence to consider the idea.

            During the meeting, members asked about the possibility of voting immediately. Vice President Peg Pennepacker proposed waiting two weeks to avoid the "potential chaos" it could create for building administrators.  "We all get it," said Emily Psaris McCormick, who described the potential action as a sign of good faith. "It's enough. Nobody wants the masks on our kids. It's over."

            Two audience members expressed their support for a potential policy change.

            Member Raeann Hofkin made a motion to vote immediately to make masks optional. But it did not receive a second.  "I'm tired of hearing, 'trust the science,'" Hofkin said. "Until all doctors agree, I'm going to do my own research. It's time to take the masks off."