On Jan. 16, Governor Glenn Youngkin signed an Executive Order which, along with reaffirming the rights of parents in the upbringing, education, and care of their children, lifted the mask mandate for schools in Virginia. The bill [Senate Bill 739] allowed each county’s school board to decide whether they would continue to implement the mask mandate or decide to lift it. 

Originally, Loudoun County Public Schools had decided to follow the CDC guidelines at the time the bill was signed and not lift the mask mandate. However, three parents sued the school board on Feb. 1, claiming the LCPS decision violated the first part of Senate Bill 1303, requiring that schools provide full-time in-person learning. LCPS reviewed the governor’s order and ruled to remove the mandate and allow parents and children the choice whether or not to wear masks. 

The release of the LCPS decision happened overnight, and the sudden change put teachers in a stressful situation, forcing them to adjust to the mandate removal. “I have a little baby at home who is under two and can’t get a vaccine and who’s around icky kids all the time, so [wearing a mask] is the least thing I can do to protect her at home,” English department head Johanna Ayala-Walsh said. 

In addition to Walsh, other teachers choose to wear a mask to protect their loved ones. “I wear a mask because community transmissions, although low, aren’t as low as they were this past summer before the delta variant, and I have a family member who has medical issues. So to protect them and be able to spend time with them safely, I wear a mask at school,” physics teacher Samantha Spytek said. 

Even for teachers who chose not to wear a mask, many still take their students’ needs into consideration. “If someone came to me and said they were uncomfortable and wanted me to mask up, I would definitely mask up,” economics teacher Peter Kim said. Some who choose to not wear the mask do so because the mask makes it difficult to understand what others are saying, so going maskless makes communication easier. “As a teacher though, trying to talk through that mask is really hard,” Kim said. 

Going mask optional hasn’t been an easy transition. Although high schools and middle schools aren’t as affected, elementary schools are facing many challenges. For example, some kids may feel out of place if they are the only ones wearing the mask. “My colleague, who [has] one kid older than the other one vaccinated and one isn’t. The [unvaccinated] kid still had to wear the mask, and they felt ostracized,” Walsh said. “[The kid feels] like ‘why do I have to wear it and no one else is wearing it, and now I feel embarrassed.’”

Along with some kids feeling out of place, there was a lot of uncertainty and anxiety over masks with such a quick decision. A number of  teachers agree that LCPS should have waited for the go-ahead from the CDC or until science and medical professionals showed it was okay to go mask optional rather than let politics take control. “I think that the bill was passed for the wrong reasons; we were still in the middle of that huge spike,” Spytek said. 

The bill passed a month after Governor Youngkin was sworn into office and was a huge talking point during campaigns and the election. “I think this whole issue with the mask has been way too politicized,” Kim said. 

Government officials should take into consideration what is best for the state and the people of the state rather than make decisions based on their political goals. With the lift of the mask mandate, the focus has shifted onto vaccinations, which are the next step to keeping everyone safe. Especially without the protective barrier of a mask, the best step to protect the community is through vaccines. However, similar to the mask mandate, vaccination requirements have been debated and have taken the spotlight. Although the last resort of protection for students and staff, the fate of vaccine requirements in LCPS still stands unknown.