After weeks of impassioned debate over whether masks should be required in schools, second grader Jackson Breitegan on Monday was most concerned about the temperature in his classroom at the new Smith Wade-El Elementary School in Lancaster. “I’m excited for the air conditioning,” Jackson, said, explaining that the old school, then called Buchanan Elementary School, which didn’t have air conditioning. “I’ve been sweating my butt off.”

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Jackson was among the thousands of students entering the first day of the 2021-22 school year, one that comes with COVID-19 cases — and, at times, tempers — on the rise.

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         Above, students leave during dismissal at Smith-Wade-El Elementary School in Lancaster on Monday.

 

Students, faculty and staff in the School District of Lancaster are required to wear masks indoors. Elizabethtown Area School District has no mask mandate.

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Elementary students in Lancaster as well as Conestoga Valley School District, and all but kindergarten students in the Elizabethtown Area School District, started school Monday.

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The day was long-awaited for many. For a moment, masks weren’t a topic of discussion — but only for a moment.

 

“It is what it is,” Jackson’s mother, Danielle Breitegan, 36, of Lancaster Township, said of the mask requirement as she and her husband, Vince, walked Jackson and their other son, Logan, a kindergartner, to school Monday morning. “I want the kids to be safe, but I wish we could go back to normal.”

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School District of Lancaster is one of three Lancaster County school districts with a universal mask requirement entering the 2021-22 school year, along with Columbia Borough and Manheim Township school districts.

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While masks remain a point of contention throughout the county, school officials, parents and students in Conestoga Valley, Elizabethtown Area and Lancaster said the first day of school went smoothly, with no major problems related to COVID-19 or transportation.

 

Elizabethtown

Elizabethtown Area School District spokesperson Troy Portser said the district “couldn’t be more pleased” with how the school year started. A blend of masked and unmasked students were happy and engaged with their learning, he said.

Portser said he was not aware of any COVID-19 cases reported Monday.

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Jillian Wivell, a sophomore at Elizabethtown Area High School, said Monday after school that it was nice to be back, and it felt more normal than last school year. The students seemed looser and more talkative without the mask requirement or a concern whether they’re wearing their mask correctly, she said. Jillian, who chooses not to wear a mask, said there was no shaming or bullying of those who wore masks.

“It wasn’t really a topic of conversation,” she said. “I think that everyone just kind of respects that its their decision and nobody was asking people or saying like, ‘You shouldn’t be wearing your mask.’”

 

Sarah Crawford, a former French teacher at the high school, said her kids, who are in ninth and 11th grades, are wearing masks in school to protect themselves and others, including at-risk family members.

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“We think masking is better for the good of the whole,” said Crawford, 43, of Elizabethtown.

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With COVID-19 ramping up again, including in children, Crawford said masks are a simple mitigation measure that schools should implement to protect students and employees and their families.

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Although it was challenging getting back into the rhythm of inperson learning, Crawford said, her kids were mostly pleased to be back.

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Conestoga Valley

Conestoga Valley School District spokesperson Katie Meier said there were no major hiccups on the first day of school, including busing.

Looming over the first day, though, was a last-minute announcement changing the district’s mask policy. In a letter shared with families Sunday, district Superintendent Dave Zuilkoski said that because elementary students are ineligible for vaccination, there can be periods of mask requirements at the elementary schools.

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Individual elementary schools will impose a two-week mask requirement if one reaches a certain number of active COVID-19 cases. Leola Elementary School’s temporary mask requirement will kick in if it reaches five active COVID-19 cases; Brownstown, six; Smoketown, seven; and Fritz, eight.

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The district is using the same threshold the Pennsylvania Department of Education used last school year for closing schools amid surges of the virus. That guidance, however, is not in place this school year and it was never meant for shifting to a mask requirement.

Asked why the administration chose to adopt this new policy, Meier referred a reporter to Zuilkoski’s letter. She declined to answer specific questions about the decision-making and timing surrounding the announcement.

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Some in the community were enraged when they received the letter Sunday.

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“I was aghast,” LuAnne Mikos, who has a son in fourth-grade in the district, said, adding that the district should have gone further and adopted a universal mask requirement districtwide. A retired nurse, Mikos said masks are a preventative measure, not something meant to quell an outbreak “once things have gone haywire.”

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Mikos, 62, from West Earl Township, said she felt heart-wrenched sending her son to school on Monday knowing that he will be around unmasked kids and adults. She’s called neighboring schools to see if her son could attend there, and she’s talked to a lawyer about potential legal remedies.

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“I don’t know what to do,” she said. “We’re just sending them into, like, a bees’ nest now, and they could have prevented that.”

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Tom Richard, a fifth-grade teacher at Smoketown Elementary School, said he agrees that the district should have gone further in its mask policy. While it was an improvement from their initial stance, he said, “it’s probably not the best prevention we could do.” Richard said some parents may not bring their sick child to the doctor to get tested and, therefore, each school’s case count might be unreliable.

“I think there’s probably positive cases in our school right now that we’re not aware of,” he said.

 

School District of Lancaster

School District of Lancaster spokesperson Adam Aurand said there were no noticeable issues there Monday.

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It deployed a full fleet of buses, he said. The district received some reports of COVID-19 — which were contracted before students arrived at school — but none regarding quarantine, he said. Aurand said the positive cases would appear on the district’s dashboard, which had not been updated with Monday’s data as of 5 p.m.

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One of the new faces at Lancaster is Smith-Wade-El Principal David Krakoff. A Pittsburgh native, Krakoff has worked in Florida schools the last 12 years. He said Monday was the most excited he’s felt for a first day. He described it as a “feeling of relief mixed with exuberance” following a summer fueled with debate over COVID-19 measures.

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Walking to the school with their two kids, who are in kindergarten in third grade, Jason and Maristela Gottlieb, of Lancaster Township, said they felt relieved to be sending their children to a school where masks are required. Jason Gottlieb, 50, a pediatrician in Lancaster, said masks give the best chance for students to have a happy and healthy school year.

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The kids agree, Maristela Gottlieb, 42, said.

“The kids don’t mind at all,” she said. “I think it’s more about fuss from the parents.”