Most Prince William County students and teachers are still wearing masks in schools despite the new state law banning school mask mandates signed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin in February. At least half, if not more, are still donning them, according to recent interviews with students, teachers, parents and some school board members.
The school division stopped enforcing its mask mandate on Feb. 17, the day after Youngkin signed Senate Bill 739, which gave students the option of wearing masks in schools. Superintendent LaTanya McDade dropped the mask mandate for staff on Friday, Feb. 25, the day the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed its metric for assessing COVID-19’s impact in local communities. The move effectively lifted the CDC’s previous recommendation on mask-wearing in about 90% of the country, including Prince William County.
Under the new “COVID-19 community level” measure, Prince William County has remained at a “low” level of COVID-19 impact since late February, according to the CDC.
Still, a majority of local students and teachers seem not quite ready to give up their masks. Potomac District School Board Representative Justin Wilk, for example, said “well over 90%” of the students he’s encountered during recent visits to schools in his district were still masking. Meanwhile, Gainesville School Board Representative Jen Wall said only about 40% of students in her western Prince William district have dropped them, although she said she expects the number will rise as the weather warms.
At the same time, some parents who lobbied against school mask mandates say students seem to be slowing shedding their masks with their parents’ encouragement.
A young student drops her mask into the flames during a recent “mask burning” event in Manassas.
Jill Moser, a Gainesville mom and an administrator of the Facebook group formerly known as “PWC for Mask Choice,” celebrated the end of masks mandates with a recent “mask burning” at a Manassas brewery. About 20 to 25 families participated in the event, which Moser said offered a chance for families to socialize and experience a sense of closure.
“For us parents who feel passionate about this topic, we were solidifying that the masks served a purpose … but now we’re moving forward. And we’re moving forward with our smiles,” Moser said.
CDC, state abruptly change mask rules
The slow reaction to Virginia’s mask-optional law is perhaps not surprising given the CDC’s abrupt change in guidance about masks in public schools. The CDC had long recommended universal masking in schools before changing that stance late last month as the Omicron surge finally waned.
Prior to the new CDC metric, the Prince William Health District had maintained a “high” or “substantial” community transmission rate of COVID-19 since about late July when cases began rising during the Delta variant surge. The CDC previously recommended indoor masking in all public places – including public schools – in communities where transmission was substantial or high.
About 300 kids and teens age 19 and under in the Prince William Health District were hospitalized for COVID-19 over the last 13 weeks, or since about mid-December, according to the Virginia Department of Health.
The new state law, however, came before the CDC published a new study finding that masks do indeed slow the spread of COVID-19 in schools. On March 11, the CDC released the results of a study of Arkansas school districts that found that those with full mask requirements had a 23% lower incidence of COVID-19 among students and staff compared to districts with no mask requirements. School divisions with partial mask requirements fell in between, and those that switched from no masks to masks saw reduced illness, the study found.
Most high school students still masking
Among local high school students, the reaction to the mask-optional law has been mixed, but most students are still wearing masks during the school day and seem to be following cues from their friends and teachers. In classes where teachers still mask – or have shared that they or a family member are at a high risk for COVID-19 – students have been especially considerate, said Shannon Geraghty, a government teacher at Forest Park High School.
“Most of the kids are still wearing masks,” Geraghty said in a recent interview. “I think it’s because they’re being respectful because most of the teachers are still wearing masks.”
Geraghty said she still wears a mask because she caught COVID-19 in 2021 and doesn’t want to get it again. Other teachers have health conditions that put them at high risk or live with elderly family members. Some students have also expressed health concerns, she said.
“[They] don’t want to get it and they don’t want to bring it home to their family members,” Geraghty said of such students.
Charlotte Flynn, a senior at Woodbridge Senior High School who serves as a student representative on the Prince William County School Board, said some students shed their masks immediately after the rule was lifted, but most still wear them.
“Most students I see are still not comfortable with taking their masks off,” she said.
Mekelet Suraphel, a junior at Hylton High School who also serves as a student school board representative, said she hasn’t seen much of an increase in maskless students. She has, however, seen a rise in students wearing masks incorrectly, she said.
But she, too, said students seem concerned about high-risk teachers and friends.
“For the most part, students are very courteous,” she added “ The more communication teachers have with students about why the teachers want them to wear masks, the more students abide by it.”
Flynn said that students she knows who have health conditions who put them at higher risk for serious illness from COVID-19 are dealing with the new law by asking those in their friend groups to wear masks.
“Most people who have an issue, or are compromised, or have a relative with an issue, they would share it with their peers. They’d say, ‘Hey, for my sake, please do this,’” Flynn said.
Wall: ‘We can focus on school’
So far, there have been few or no reports of friction about mask-wearing among teachers or students, according to students, teachers and school board members interviewed.
And regardless of students’ choices on masks, both teachers and school board members said the law change has had one positive effect for teachers: They no longer have to worry about enforcing masks among students.
“It’s actually more relaxing,” Geraghty said. “I’m very happy not to have to tell them to pull up their masks.”
Wall said she’s received few if any complaints about masks since the new law took effect and said most people seem comfortable with having a choice about wearing them.
“People feel like they don’t need to fight about it anymore,” Wall said. “We can just focus on school.”
