Almost exactly 2 years after we shuttered our schools (and my first blog post), my school district went mask optional! We made the change on Monday, March 14th 2022.
Now, there a LOT of different and perfectly valid emotions around this change. Here is me, feeling pretty excited about it on Monday:
And here I sit Saturday morning, writing from my couch with a nasty head cold! (Not covid!)
The governor of Vermont hinted at this change in mid February, and made the change official starting in March. School districts in Vermont would have the choice when it came to masking.
There were lots of feelings from teachers, parents, and community members. Our community positivity rate is still over 4%. There are still people dying of covid in Vermont. In addition, we have another new subvariant of Omicron making the rounds. Many parents feel like it isn't time, or that it isn't safe yet, and I want to be sensitive to those perspectives. Others feel like masks are an easy way to continue to protect the most vulnerable in our community, and feel strongly about continuing to wear them. Others are open to mask optional but will continue to wear masks to protect themselves or vulnerable family members. But others like me, feel like it is safe enough and time to move on to the next phase of "normal": taking the masks off for those who are ready. We are lucky that our vaccine rates are very high in our area, and we have a level of protection and tools (including new medications and big air filters in every room) to fight the virus that we didn't have when this pandemic started. My husband and I had a good talk with all 3 kids and helped them decide what was right for them. We supported their decision to take masks off, but keep extras in their backpack in case they changed their mind or a friend felt safer with them on.
Personally, I was ready. After years of trying to teach French in a mask, I was ready to take mine off. But much more importantly, I was ready to see my students' faces! I'll share two quick stories from this week.
One, I have a 9th grader in class who is very shy. She has barely spoken all year. When she makes eye contact with me, she has that deer in the headlight look, and I almost never cold call on her because she looks so terrified. Did she hate my class? Was she just shy? I wasn't sure I knew what her voice sounded like. This week, she choose to take her mask off. I saw her face for the first time. She still looked nervous at first, but right away, I noticed a big difference: she spoke. Was it, that without a mask to hide behind, she felt more ready and open to speak and participate? Or maybe, seeing my face and being able to read my emotions, she felt safer, more willing to be vulnerable and speak up? Not only was she more engaged, but I joked wit her about something, and she made eye contact and SHE SMILED. Let me be clear: this was a student who has been sitting in my class for over 7 months, and I had never seen her smile. I almost did a back flip. She chuckled and SMILED at me! Now, is it possible that this student had been smiling all along and I had never noticed because of the mask? I suppose it is, but we've gotten pretty good at reading facial expressions through the masks. As far as I knew, this was the first smile I'd gotten all year. The sense of connection, the ease of relationship building, and the engagement in class all felt starkly different with the masks off, especially for my youngest students (9th graders). I was astonished by how different it felt, and how much more easy all the social aspects of class felt with the students faces visible.
I could say the same for walking down the hallway. I hadn't noticed how much we'd been hiding from each other...when you pass some unknown person looking down from behind a mask, it is difficult to make eye contact and say hello. But suddenly, with masks off, I was shocked by how a simple "Hello!" and a smile in the hallway felt SO different. It seemed like our school community changed overnight.
Conversely, I could also tell you a story about students with high social anxiety who are choosing to continue to mask. Some are still very scared and anxious about the virus, and this change has produced a lot of anxiety for them. While these students are in the minority, it is important to acknowledge that my experience is not the same as everyone else's.
I know these stories and anecdotal, and I know there is a lot of actual research going on about the effect of masks on child development, social skills, and academic achievement. From what I have heard, the research is showing that in most cases masks have not had an adverse effect on these outcomes. But I can also tell you: We are human. We are social creatures. And seeing faces, seeing smiles, and the effect on my relationships with my students and colleagues felt evident this week. I've tried not to emphasize this in the classroom, because I want to be respectful of students who are choosing to continue to mask, and I want to support their decision. But internally, I've felt a huge sense of re-connection and well, a warm fuzzy affinity that is hard to describe when I see someone's whole face!
And yet...here I sit with a head cold! It didn't take long for germs to reappear as the masks came off. I am bracing for colds, tummy bugs, and the like. Between my 3 kids and I, it could be a rough spring. Will I go back to masking to avoid these bugs? (Certainly I will follow all school protocols and mask up in any public setting while I have any kind of germs!) But when I'm healthy, I don't know. Based on the sense of relief and connection with students this week, I will have a hard time putting it back on in that setting now. I guess so much depends on variants, community spread, spikes, or, dare I say...endemic?!?
To end, a special photo to show how my kids were feeling. My middle child planned a special surprise for his teacher and class Monday morning. He went to school with his mask on, and then triumphantly pulled off his mask to reveal:
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