School Districts across the nation are debating whether to change their health plans and mask policies. There are conflicting viewpoints from Manheim Township students and how this should affect school life with masks and social distancing.

On Monday November 15th, the Manheim Township School Board held a special meeting in Convo Hall to discuss the current requirement of wearing masks during the school day. After approximately three hours, the vote concluded that the Health and Safety Plan set in place will remain the same, with masks mandatory for all students and staff inside school buildings in compliance with the statewide mask mandate. Implemented on Tuesday September 7th, Governor Tom Wolf required mask wearing in schools. As of now, the state’s mask order is still in effect until the Supreme Court rules it void or the order’s expiration date (January 17th, 2022) passes.

Along with several other community members, many of Township’s own students and staff were given an opportunity to voice their opinions over this debate. One such person is junior Gavin Glass, who spoke at the meeting.

“We’ve done it for a year already. The masks are a distraction,” Glass said.

A suggestion provided at the meeting was to make masks optional after kids age 11 and younger have time to receive the vaccine, since it just became available to them on November 2nd. Many kids are waiting to become fully vaccinated, which takes about 6 weeks. This includes the 4 week waiting period in between doses and the 2 weeks after the final dose is administered. The idea leaves time for those who wish to be vaccinated to have that chance.

Senior Nyah Khan is concerned that if the mask optional policy is implemented too soon it might ruin all the progress Manheim Township has made towards eliminating COVID-19 in its schools.

Khan says, “While I understand that masks may feel unnecessary at this point with so much progress made, I still feel more comfortable wearing one because I really don’t want to go back online. I know a lot of students—along with myself—had a really hard time with online learning last year, and I will do whatever is needed to avoid that.”

Another possible option to make mask wearing less strenuous on students is to move into a hybrid mask plan. This proposed plan would have students wearing masks when up and moving, such as walking in the hallways or between periods, but not when sitting at their own desk or socially distanced.

The vote at the special meeting this Monday ended with a 7-2 majority for keeping the mandatory mask plan in place; however, on December 6th, the newly elected board members are going to take office and have already scheduled another special meeting for that date.

The high school administration has reminded the students that mask breaks are still an option during the school day, but students like Austin Day, a Junior, are worried about the learning and material that will be missed during that time.

Comparing Township’s mask regulations to neighboring districts, Conestoga Valley and Lampeter-Strasburg reverted back to their mandatory mask policy after just one day going mask optional. A common theme from these school districts is to keep the focus on the learning. While this is an ever-changing topic, schools like Warwick and Hempfield are planning to continue with a mask-optional policy in school buildings. However, with the order still in place, the school districts ignoring the mask mandate are breaking rules for which there could be unprecedented consequences by the Pennsylvania Court System.