Mask debate rages on in Oceanside

Under Gov. Kathy Hochul’s direction, the New York State Department of Health mandated on Aug. 27 that all public and private school students in grades pre-K to 12 must wear masks in school this fall. The Oceanside School District voted Aug. 31 to formalize its mask requirement.

Still, the debate raged on, with many parents signaling their frustration with the mandate during the 75-minute meeting. The board, though, stood by its unanimous decision to abide by state guidelines requiring masks.

The previous board meeting on Aug. 17 was meant to let parents debate the mask requirement as part of the board’s decision-making process, which ended with the Aug. 31 vote, with classes starting the next day. That session was an expectedly fiery affair. Several parents donned matching shirts with a stark, red font that read, “Freedom, not fear.”

“What’s the end game here?” parent Sal Tyne asked. “How long are we going to do this?”

“As long as we’re required to do it, so that we don’t get our schools closed down and our kids thrown out of school,” Board of Education President Mary Jane McGrath-Mulhern replied, with groans echoing throughout the audience.

Trisha Savita, who has three children in the district, asked the board about mask breaks. Savita said one of her children had a rash last year caused by her mask. Superintendent Dr. Phyllis Harrington responded that the mask-break decisions would be made “as appropriate.”

“Much to the chagrin of my friends here, I implore you to impose stricter mask mandates,” Tim Stam said. “I think the best idea for all of our safety is to have a dozen or so assistants in each classroom to make sure the students aren’t touching their masks.”

The meeting devolved about 20 minutes in when one parent came to the microphone and repeated the phrase “When is the next election?” over and over, raising her volume each time. A few minutes prior, McGrath-Mulhern had told the audience, “If you think I’m rude, I’m up for re-election in two years.”

“We had a meeting that was four and a half hours long where everybody got to express their opinions,” McGrath-Mulhern said. “We, as a board, didn’t get the opportunity to make any decisions about this. The governor took that away from us.”

Several parents spoke of the Massapequa and Locust Valley school boards, which voted to make masks optional in defiance of the governor’s mandate, though both announced later that they would comply and require masks on Tuesday. Both boards are still working on a legal challenge to the order.

Bobby Kudlek, a parent of two children in the district, came to the microphone and cited the Massapequa and Locust Valley boards’ actions as an example for the Oceanside board members to follow, threatening to vote trustees out. “What is the difference if you allow our kids to have a choice?” Kudlek said. “We’re the parents. We’re supposed to be able to make those decisions for our kids.”

“We got the decision taken away from us by the New York State Health Department,” McGrath-Mulhern responded. “In a public pool, the department of health says you have to maintain your chlorine level at a certain level. If you don’t, we shut down your pool.”

Students arrived at schools throughout the district on Wednesday in masks.