Metro’s school board will debate dropping mask requirement on Tuesday

Nashville’s school board is having its first serious discussion about dropping universal mask requirements, which have been in place ever since in-person school resumed. The Metro Board of Education is scheduled to debate the future of masking at its meeting Tuesday.

Superintendent Adrienne Battle has not publicized a recommendation, and the district would not comment ahead of the meeting. But on Feb. 8, Battle said, “A further decline will allow the board to consider some of our universal masking policies in the near future.”

Metro Nashville Public Schools is one of the few districts in the state where everyone is still required to wear masks. Even when the governor ordered that schools couldn’t mandate masks, Metro stayed the course — with limited opposition from parents and teachers.

Board member Fran Bush has questioned the need for masks regularly and pushed for the discussion to be on the agenda Tuesday night. But Metro Schools is being joined by large school systems in liberal cities around the country that are moving away from masks as the Omicron variant looses steam.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still recommends universal masking in schools, though there are anonymous reports that the CDC could outline a new plan this week.

One of Nashville’s key leaders in the pandemic response is concerned that the city may be moving too quickly.

“As long as there’s not another variant of concern that emerges, I think we’ll be able to get to a new normal. But I think that we’re trying to move there too rapidly,” says Dr. James Hildreth, president of Meharry Medical College and an infectious disease researcher.

Hildreth says he understands the impatience and that many schools feel pressure from parents to end masking. But the top priority should still be saving lives, he says, especially of those who have underlying risk factors or aren’t vaccinated.

Last week in Tennessee, more than 50 people a day were dying.

“If we don’t do anything else, let’s please keep our focus on those who are most vulnerable,” Hildreth says. “That way we can save as many lives as possible.”

For Meharry’s part, Hildreth says the school has no timeline for ending its campus-wide mask requirement.