Masks Are On, Again, On Tuesday In Patchogue-Medford

PATCHOGUE, NY — The Patchogue-Medford School District will require masks for children and staff on Tuesday, according to the district's Facebook page.

Schools Superintendent Donna Jones told parents Monday afternoon that Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office has issued "much conflicting information over the last several days" regarding the wearing of masks within schools, but informed them it has now "affirmed" that districts have local control to lift mask wearing during outside activities, not in.

State officials have "upheld the requirement for masks to be worn during the school day with mask breaks allowable at the discretion of the teachers," Jones said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have ruled that mask mandates must be maintained, so the district will resume with that protocol on Tuesday, she said.

She reiterated the district's policy to allow mask breaks outside for students.

"We will continue to monitor the guidance and will continue to advocate for our families moving forward," she wrote, adding, "Thank you for your cooperation and please be safe."

Pat-Med started allowing students and staff to go without masks on Monday based on their "individual comfort level with the proposed guidance," according to a message on the district's website.

The decision was made taking into consideration the relaxed classroom mask mandate proposed by the state that has not been addressed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as the warm weather that is expected to continue over the next two weeks before the end of school.

Pat-Med was not the only school district to walk back its mask requirements on Monday.

Sachem school officials also decided to resume the protocol on Monday after Cuomo's directive.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday announced that school districts can lift the mask mandate for students and staff outside, but masks will still be required for students outside.

He went on to say that COVID-19 numbers "show that the risk of transmission by children is extremely low, especially in this state, which has an extremely low positivity rate."

Cuomo, however, noted that his staff spoke with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and "since they're not going to change their guidance for several weeks in New York, we're going to modify the CDC guidance and allow schools to choose no mask outside for children."

"We'll leave that up to the local school district and we spoke to the CDC, which has no objection," he said. "It's very important that people understand the logic between these decisions and that they're rational and based on the science and the data. We have a disconnect right now between the school guidance and the camp guidance, and it's important to rectify it because if
people don't think the rules are logical, then they're not going to want to follow the rules."