PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — Some parents in Pinellas County want public school officials to change their mask policy.
Right now, Pinellas County public school leaders are strongly encouraging students and staff to wear masks, but it is not required.
This is the statement Pinellas County Schools provided 10 Tampa Bay on July 20, 2021.
Pinellas County Schools continues to work closely with its group of medical experts and DOH-Pinellas reviewing safety protocols. At this time, masks/face coverings are optional for students, staff and visitors but strongly encouraged and recommended indoors. Any change to the face-covering policy would require School Board action. The same layered mitigation strategies/safety protocols used during the 2020-2021 school year will remain such as enhanced cleaning and disinfecting protocols in classrooms and common areas, social distancing to the greatest extent possible, hand sanitizers in classrooms, and upgraded ventilation/air filtration systems established last fall. We also encourage (not mandate) everyone eligible to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
Some parents believe Pinellas County school board members should look at what the superintendent in Hillsborough County did. Saturday a mask mandate was put in place, but parents have the option to opt out by filling out a form.
Some parents told 10 Tampa Bay if there is no mask mandate in Pinellas County they will hold off on sending their kids back. “I think that we may opt to take the first couple of weeks off," Shulman said.
Parents like Shulman point to the CDC's recommendation that everyone wear masks indoors when in an area of high transmission. “Masks become more effective, especially given the delta variant, when everyone’s wearing one," Shulman explained.
Shulman believes the safest thing to do is to require masks in schools. “I feel that masks should be required. Not just for the kids to protect the kids, but for the teachers too," Shulman stated.
There are parents who disagree and like having the choice. As it stands right now, parents in Pinellas County do have the option to have their child not wear a mask at school.
Health professors at USF who study immunity said the more people who wear masks, the more effective they are. “The more kids that wear the masks, the less chance of spread," an Associate Professor for the school of medicine at USF Health, Doctor Michael Teng, stated.
Teng said there have been studies done in other states that show wearing masks in schools has proven to be safer.
"There are some really good studies that have come out because of this experience of wearing masks," Teng explained. "One thing that came out of the Massachusetts study was that masks were very effective."
10 Tampa Bay reached out to Pinellas County school board members and the superintendent asking if they will change their policy. Our emails went unanswered Saturday.
On Monday, Pinellas County school officials are holding a meeting to discuss their policies ahead of the start of the school year.