PROVIDENCE – Come April 11, mask wearing for students and staff within the Providence Public School District will be optional.
The district announced late Wednesday that it will no longer require students or staff members to wear masks in schools, after consulting with the R.I. Department of Health, monitoring COVID-19 case counts within the district and getting feedback from students, parents, teachers and staff. Rhode Island’s largest school district, which is currently under state control, kept its mask mandate in place after the statewide mask mandate imposed for schools expired on March 4.
Among the reasons that PPSD kept masks on was because of the low student vaccination rate the district had at the time. In February, R.I. Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green said Providence’s student vaccination rate was 34%, compared with other school districts – such as Barrington and East Greenwich – that had student vaccination rates in excess of 70%.
PPSD spokesperson Nick Domings told Providence Business News Wednesday that the district’s student vaccination rate has improved slightly, up to 44% of students who have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose. He also said cases within the district have been “way down” since the winter. He said that there has been an average of less than 10 cases each day across PPSD’s 20,000-plus students over the last several weeks, including zero cases reported on Wednesday.
“The cases are at the lowest point that they have been,” Domings said. Infante-Green concurred in a statement Wednesday, saying removing the mask requirement from PPSD is a “positive milestone brought about by the district’s strong COVID mitigation efforts.”
PPSD’s decision was also based on community response to a survey it sent out last week to gather input from students, families, school staff and community members about whether or not to continue to require masks in the city’s schools. According to the 3,026 who responded to the survey, 69% said they either “agree” or “strongly agree” in making masks optional in the district for students and staff, while 23% either said they “disagree” or “strongly disagree.”
Responses by category were:
- Staff: 75% either “agree” or “strongly agree,” while 19% either “disagree” or “strongly disagree.”
- Students: 65% either “agree” or “strongly agree,” while 18% either “disagree” or “strongly disagree.”
- Parent/guardian: 60% either “agree” or “strongly agree,” while 31% either “disagree” or “strongly disagree.”
“Doing the survey was important to the superintendent [Javier Montañez] to give people a voice in it,” Domings said. “That did speak to quite a bit to where people are right now with masks.”
However, masks may not permanently go away. Montañez said in a statement stressing to the PPSD community that masks could be put back on if there’s a spike in cases in the district and if advised by RIDOH or other state officials. Plus, Montañez said PPSD will continue to provide free vaccination clinics, free testing and increased sanitation in the district’s schools.
If a single school in the city had a COVID-19 outbreak, that school would be asked to temporarily mask up until cases subside there, Domings said. But, if there’s a bigger outbreak, Domings said the district would discuss the matter with state health officials on what the mitigation strategy would be. PPSD will continue to put out various messages encouraging people in the district to get vaccinated, he said.
Domings said the district will also send students home with free rapid test kits so that they can get tested before returning to school from April vacation, and each school is stocked with KN95 masks for anyone who wants one. He also said there will be six vaccination clinics scheduled within the district from April 11-19 and people can register for those clinics on the PPSD website.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
