WOODSVILLE — The Haverhill Cooperative School Board this week dropped almost all mask requirements for students at the district’s three schools amid the largest surge of COVID-19 the Twin States have seen since the pandemic began.
Prior to Monday night’s 3-2 vote, with one abstention and one absence, the school district previously required masks in classrooms after a positive case was identified. The district now simply recommends masks for students.
“Let the parents decide what’s best for their kids,” Michael Aremburg, one of the three board members who supported relaxing mask requirements, said in a recording of the meeting. “Don’t parent for them.”
Board members Stephanie Chase and Alexandra Keeler joined Aremburg in supporting the measure, while School Board Chairman Dick Guy and board member Don LoCascio opposed them. John Rutherford, the board’s vice chairman, joined the meeting via Zoom and abstained from the vote. Board member Sabrina Brown was absent.
LoCascio and Guy both wore masks to the meeting, which was held at Woodsville High School and virtually via Zoom. None of the measure’s supporters wore masks during the meeting.
The vote came amid a concerted campaign to ease mask requirements and other COVID-19 mitigation measures. Several community members spoke against masks during the public comment portion of the meeting.
One read from a “Notice of Maladministration” to the School Board that reads in part: “Take notice that I, as one of the People, do not consent and object to any mandates that block the breathing system with a face covering, require social distancing or daily body temperature checks, impose testing requirements, force long quarantines at home, or implement vaccine clinics on school grounds.”
The vote came as hospitals are overwhelmed by the current surge of COVID-19 patients and after the board held a moment of silence in honor of Wayne Fortier, a former member of the school board and Haverhill Selectboard who died earlier this month at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center after contracting COVID-19.
“So, it’s hitting home,” LoCascio said of Fortier’s COVID-related death. It’s a “horrible mistake to allow all the students to be exposed to COVID.”
Under federal rules, Haverhill students are still required to wear masks on school buses. Employees are still required to wear masks in Haverhill schools unless they are at least 6 feet away from others, Superintendent Laurie Melanson said in a Tuesday email.
State and federal health officials currently recommend masks in schools, particularly when COVID-19 transmission rates are high. A November survey of 218 parents in Haverhill showed more than 50% of the parents surveyed from each of the district’s three schools said they would prefer full-time masking until COVID-19 cases in the district return to zero.
Chase said she supported masking until vaccines were widely available. Now that they are available to all those 5 and older, she no longer supports mask requirements.
“I don’t believe COVID will go away,” she said. “Now that we have vaccines, that changes a lot.”
Since the board’s Nov. 8 meeting, Haverhill schools have seen 84 cases of COVID-19, including 26 at the elementary school, 33 at the middle school and 25 at the high school, Melanson said. On Tuesday, there were four active cases at the elementary school and five each at the middle school and high school.
As of Tuesday, Haverhill had had 66 new cases in the past two weeks, for a rate of 1,439 per 100,000 people. That’s above Grafton County’s overall rate of 991 per 100,000 in the past two weeks.
The School Board, on Monday, also opted not to require masks at athletic events this winter and not to place a cap on the number of attendees. School officials have the flexibility to require masks when teams are playing other schools that will only participate if masks are required, Melanson said.
Elsewhere in Haverhill, the public library will be returning to curbside service only, beginning Thursday, according to a news release. Masked visits will be allowed by appointment only.
“Cases are rising in our area and we have had a lot of children and elderly together in a relatively small space,” the release said. “With the holidays upon us it is possible these COVID cases will temporarily increase. We want to do our part to keep our patrons safe.”
WINDSOR — Schools saw more than 40 positive cases last week, according to the superintendent of the Windsor Southeast Supervisory Union.
Those cases required daily testing of more than 60 close contacts, Superintendent David Baker wrote in a Friday message to families. In addition, he said school staff have been conducting contact tracing while state public health officials are busy.
“Our staff, particularly our nurses, are overwhelmed at times,” he wrote.
Last week, the district nearly ran out of test-to-stay kits and if that continues, some classes may have to shift from in-person to remote instruction, he said.
Much of the transmission is occurring outside of school hours, and 90% of the district’s cases, in both students and employees, are among the unvaccinated, he said.
“If you are unvaccinated your risks of infection are far more increased and you then run the risk of infecting those around you,” he wrote.
WOODSTOCK — The Thompson Senior Center in Woodstock reopened Monday after being closed due to a staff member who was exposed to COVID-19.
The center closed Dec. 1 to in-person activities and reopened Dec. 13. Everyone who visits the center will now be required to wear a mask, regardless of vaccination status, according to an announcement posted to the nonprofit organization’s Facebook page.
“We also ask that everyone is especially mindful of potential symptoms,” the statement reads. “Even being more tired or achy can be a potential symptom. If you have any cold symptoms, muscle or neck aches, or any other symptoms, please get tested and don’t come to the center until you have negative test results.”
Staff Writer Liz Sauchelli contributed to this report. Nora Doyle-Burr can be reached at ndoyleburr@vnews.com or 603-727-3213.
