Yale Daily News

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Ned Lamont has implemented a myriad of COVID-19 regulations for schools across the state through public health emergency powers. But on Feb. 15, many of these powers are set to expire unless state legislators take action. 

On Feb. 15, the masking and vaccination mandates that Lamont issued under his emergency public health powers will expire.  The Governor has asked for the extension of the masking mandate by the legislature, while he has not called for the extension of the vaccination mandate. In the meantime, New Haven has taken action to ensure that the policies are still enforced after Lamont’s powers expire.

“I think in general, when responding to a pandemic, it is more effective if a larger group of people implement safety measures,” Mayor Justin Elicker said. “Because New Haven is not an island. We’re impacted by the decisions of other towns in the state. But nevertheless, we in New Haven plan on staying the course.” 

New Haven has announced that it will continue to require students and staff to wear masks in NHPS schools. Additionally, school staff are considered part of the city government and will therefore have to adhere to the city’s mandate to either test regularly or get vaccinated.

Connecticut State Representative Anne Hughes said that the legislature’s debate on mask mandates has “been loud and all of [a] sudden contentious.”

“I am all about unmasking our kids as soon as we can do that, but that’s not practical to look at them in enclosed, indoor, poorly ventilated spaces with teachers and staff,” Hughes said. “We can’t protect them all without at least doing our precautions like masking and washing our hands.”

Hughes said that should the mask mandate lift, it would lead to school closures.

“Maybe we’ll all be wearing masks indoors for a long time, I don’t know yet,” she said. “We don’t see those metrics that we’re good now… if we do, I’ll be the first one throwing a mask burning party.”

According to Kevin Rojas (D-09), the Connecticut General Assembly Majority Leader, the legislature has already agreed to pass some of the public health executive orders the Governor had previously enacted to deal with the COVID-19 crisis, such as rules for emergency hospital staffing and reimbursement of vaccinations at the Medicare rate. 

The Connecticut Assembly does not return to session until the middle of this month; however, its members have actively been working with the Governor to transition emergency orders into state law. 

“One of those [executive orders still] under consideration is the mask mandate in schools,” Rojas said. “There’s certainly time between now and the beginning of the session in mid-February to change how we go through enacting these mandates, but the current plan was to go through and finalize the remaining mandates.” 

While Rojas told the News that the Assembly plans on acting upon the expiration of the mask mandate, a movement across the state called Unmask Our Kids has been protesting against any further mandate. 

The movement led Mary Yordon, the State American Federation of Teachers’ divisional vice president for PreK-12, to send out a message to teachers across the state in support of a face mask mandate, calling on them to speak at Tuesday’s State Board of Education meeting. 

“The state legislature needs to hear from rank and file [teacher’s union] members who support an extension of the mask mandate beyond February 15,” Yordon said. “An extension will require legislative action, and defiance of the highly organized and vocal Unmask our Kids movement. Send [your legislators] a brief email to each one stating your support of extending the mask mandate. So far, indications are that almost exclusively anti-mask voices are speaking up.”

She added that “most teachers hate wearing masks,” but that they are still necessary to “reduce risks and therefore illness and to help the school community stay in person.” The State BOE can make a recommendation to the state legislature in the coming days on whether or not its members believe masking is necessary in schools. 

Besides the expiration of the two state mandates, another issue has arisen in the midst of the Omicron surge. On Jan. 12, AFT Connecticut called on the state to revert to the policy of having remote days count in the state’s 180 school day requirement for state education funding during a “Blackout Wednesday” protest. So far, the Governor has not agreed to implement this policy change. 

“It just seems very frustrating,” said Leslie Blatteau, president of the New Haven Federation of Teachers. “The state continued to close its eyes to the potential issues that a lack of flexibility could cause by having that many staff out. We weren’t asking for permanent remotes, we were asking for some flexibility.”

Hughes said that she’d like to give schools more flexibility toward what could count as an in-person day. “We have to do this with consensus with the State Department of Education,” she said. “On the federal level, there hasn’t been guidance about that kind of flexibility.” 

Hughes explained that if the legislature was not able to “implement some flexibility” on whether or not remote days count towards the 180 day requirement, the state would not be able to “keep schools open,” forcing a return to “remote” instruction.

Rojas told the News that “the Governor could do something by executive order if he wanted to, but he recognizes that those executive powers will end soon.” He added that he thinks the legislature will take action to make “some exceptions for this school year before the school year ends in June.” 

The Connecticut Legislature will be in session from February to May this year. 

PIA BALDWIN EDWARDS
Pia Baldwin Edwards reports on Connecticut State Policy and how it impacts New Haven. Pia is originally from Evanston, Illinois, but as of a few years ago, now calls New Orleans home. She is a first year in Saybrook College majoring in Ethics, Politics, and Economics.
YASH ROY
Yash Roy covered City Hall and State Politics for the News. He also served as a Production & Design editor, and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion chair for the News. Originally from Princeton, New Jersey, he is a '25 in Timothy Dwight College majoring in Global Affairs.