Guilford Public Schools, while still warning that much depends on fluctuating virus case numbers and state guidance, is expecting universal masking at the start of the school year even as other pandemic practices remain on the sideline.

At the Board of Education (BOE) meeting on Aug. 9, just a couple weeks before students return to classrooms, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Paul Freeman said that he had hoped to provide more concrete answers to the community but that it appeared to be masking would be required at least to start the year, with other potential mitigation strategies somewhat in flux.

“We hoped that this year would be more stable, would be more predictable than last year,” Freeman said. “But with the rising number of positives related to the Delta variant, it appears that the opening of this year is going to be a moving target in some ways, the way the opening of last year was.”

Cases of the virus have spiked nationwide. In Connecticut both the test positivity rate and number of people hospitalized due to COVID have increased. The federal Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommended universal masking in schools this summer, and many other districts around the country have already announced mask mandates.

After the successful local vaccine rollout—about 76 percent of the population at large and close to 99 percent of school staff, according to Freeman—there were expectations that 2021 could look closer to normal.

That isn’t quite happening, though Freeman urged the community to think of this fall as “normal but with masks” as the schools plan to offer sports, extracurriculars, and transportation without many restrictions apart from mask-wearing.

Fully vaccinated staff and students who “can confirm” they are vaccinated will not have to quarantine after a close contact, which again is subject to changing guidance from the state.

Freeman warned that this means that younger grades, with students who are not yet eligible for vaccinations due to their age, might see more quarantines.

The largest difference between this year and last year will be remote learning, as the district continues to plan for five days a week of in-person learning, with no immediate plans for cohorts or large-scale schooling from home, according to Freeman. Distance learning, including the livestreaming of classes, is currently required if a student is absent because of a COVID-related event, Freeman said, but will not be used for other types of illnesses or absences.

“We really are going back to a normal calendar, a normal school day, normal activities as long as we hold on to the masks until we see what happens with this Delta variant,” he said.

Normal in this case might still mean some restrictions on school clubs and occasional remote learning, along with some of the ubiquitous plexiglass shields and social distancing markers, but students will be able to move around schools freely and programs like music and sports will still be offered with a full schedule, he said.

Nearly everything continues to hinge on what the state decides in the next couple weeks, though, and Freeman made it clear that the district does not plan to fight recommendations from health officials, even if it does not come in the form of a mandate.

“I want to suggest tonight that we will follow any recommendations around masking that come from our state medical experts,” he said.

Freeman said he and some other superintendents in the area were working on soliciting a legal opinion regarding the BOE’s potential liability if the state leaves masking decisions to local officials.

“I want this town and this board to be very aware of what our decision means,” he said. “We need to make a decision with our eyes fully wide open.”

BOE Chair Dr. Katie Ballestraci emphasized the masking was especially important for the younger, unvaccinated kids, saying the risk “is not zero.”

“We need to do what’s right by the health and safety of our kids,” she said.

Even though the BOE and Freeman acknowledged that masks were the most visible and most discussed COVID-related protocol, and continuing to require them might be disappointing to some, they argued there were plenty of positives in how much more freedom and normalcy this year would afford Guilford families.

“We are hopeful that as younger students are able to take on the vaccines and as we respond to this, we should be better, not worse, as the year unfolds,” said Freeman.