MARYLAND, USA — The Maryland State Board of Education voted on Thursday to issue a statewide mask mandate in all public schools.
Maryland Senate showed support for the decision in a press release, saying the mandate recognizes the importance of safely keeping Maryland students in the classroom through "proven mitigation strategies."
A bipartisan coalition of 32 Maryland Senators sent a letter to the President and Vice President of the State Board of Education earlier this week urging emergency masking in Maryland schools.
“I applaud the Maryland Board of Education for taking this critical step to protect the health and safety of our children and school employees and look forward to swift approval of the mask mandate by the General Assembly,” said gubernatorial candidate Tom Perez.
Perez believes this is just a step in the right direction and is calling for Governor Hogan to do more.
“We need to keep our kids and educators safe -- and we need to keep them learning face-to-face. That’s why, in addition to this mask mandate, we need Governor Hogan to mandate vaccinations or regular testing for all school employees statewide, and show leadership by calling for supplemental paid family sick leave for our vaccinated front-line education workers. This way, we’ll be able to reduce the spread of the virus and prevent outbreaks before they can even begin, but the clock is ticking. Thousands of students return to the classroom on Monday, and we cannot wait for these outbreaks to start happening to take action. Now is the time for strong leadership, and it’s essential that Governor Hogan recognize the severity of the threat posed by COVID-19 in our schools and enact these measures as soon as possible.”
A good number of Maryland school systems had mask mandates in place already for the 2021-2022 school year. Public schools in Carroll, Cecil, Dorchester, Somerset, and Worcester counties did not have mask requirements in place as of Thursday.
The mandate also makes it so public schools can no longer lift local mask mandates until the state mandate is lifted.
Now that the decision has been made, the Joint Committee on Administrative, Executive and Legislative Review (AELR) will need to approve the emergency regulation.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has announced that he does not plan to reinstate indoor mask mandates for vaccinated individuals, but has recommended unvaccinated people continue to wear masks.
Hogan has also been a notable advocate of school reopenings this year.
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