In-school masking debate roils Tuckahoe community

Mask debate rages on for Tuckahoe schools

The head of Tuckahoe schools says it should be up to parents whether their children need to wear a mask when they return to school in the fall, regardless of vaccination status.

NEW YORK - At a Tuckahoe school board meeting last week, school superintendent Dr. Ann Goodman discussed her proposal of ditching the mask mandate in schools by leaving it up to parents this fall.

"Kids need to see their teachers faces and teachers need to see their student faces to get that word sound relationship," said Dr. Goodman.

Dr. Goodman hasn’t made a definitive decision yet, but she says the science proves that COVID infection rates are at an all time low in the Tuckahoe community.

Parents like Lisa Geltaj would agree. Lisa has 5 children in Tuckahoe schools and agrees it’s time to take off the masks in the classroom.

"We have to allow our children to get sick because every symptom that COVID has is any also a symptom of any other illness that other children get. They have to be allowed to get away from this and give our children the normalcy they deserve," said Geltaj.

Some parents, though, want their children to keep their masks on even when they are outdoors.

Dr. Goodman says her next step is to send out a survey to the more than 1,100 parents in the Tuckahoe Union Free School District. A final decision on masks should be made by the next board meeting sun late August. The first day of school in Tuckahoe is September 3rd.

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