Posted on 11/16/21
| News Source: WBAL
The Maryland State Board of Education is making plans to review its universal masking mandate, calling a special board meeting Tuesday.
The state school board was supposed to discuss masking in December. Instead, the board believes it's a topic that needs to be discussed sooner rather than later.
"The appropriate thing, the responsible thing to do now we are about halfway through is to collect data from the school systems, from the stakeholders, the parents, the students, administrators and health officials," Maryland State Board of Education President Clarence Crawford said.
Carroll County School Board President Marsha Herbert said she'll be among those testifying at the virtual board meeting. The county had an optional mask mandate before being forced by the state to drop it.
In recent months, there's been some opposition to mask wearing from Anne Arundel to Baltimore counties, and from organizations like the Baltimore County Parent and Student Coalition.
Amy Adams, a member of the coalition will be testifying before the board that it is time to move beyond masking in Maryland Public Schools.
"Data shows that Maryland public schools are not super spreaders," Adams said. "It is harming students to have to wear masks eight hours a day five days a week."