BOSTON (WHDH) - Parents of students at Boston Public Schools are in disagreement about whether students should be required to wear masks for several weeks after they return from winter break.
While some parents in the district support the idea of a temporary mask mandate, others say its unfair to students, especially those with learning disabilities.
BPS parent Kellen Burke said he is concerned about another mask mandate because his son relies on reading lips.
“[He] relies on seeing people’s lips, because he’s 11, but if you met him it’s almost like he’s learning English for the first time,” Burke said. “So he relies not only on just reading your lips to understand what you’re saying, but also to practice his own language,” Burke said.
Krista Magnuson, another BPS parent, said she does support a mandate because she doesn’t want students to miss out on learning due to illness.
“After the break last year, there was a huge surge in cases, especially among faculty. So there were staffing issues that happened in 2021,” Magnuson said. “We just want to see BPS take a proactive step to protect against that loss of learning time, to protect against these illnesses in our students, and our faculty and staff.”
The district is working with the city’s Public Health Commission to make a decision by the end of this week.
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