Brookfield Sets the Area Standard Making In-School Masks Optional

If your kids attend any of the Brookfield Public Schools, they will not have to wear their masks in the classroom anymore.

Monday night, in a special school board meeting in Brookfield, the board voted unanimously to end the mask mandate policy set for the school district. The board turned to two district health advisors, and took into account local vaccine and COVID stats before rendering a verdict on the mask mandate.

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According to CT Post, starting on Tuesday, March 1, the staff and students who attend any of the Brookfield Public Schools will no longer be required to mask up while in the school buildings.

By enacting this legislation, Brookfield becomes the first school district in Greater Danbury to enact this policy on their own. The vote to overturn and end the mask mandate only affects students when they are inside any of the Brookfield Schools. Masks must still be worn on school buses, which falls under the heading of public transportation and federal law.

The Brookfield decision can be overturned if necessary by the town's school Superintendent John Barile who was granted the power to make any changes and implement mask mandates again should the virus start to spread.

Last week, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont announced that the state's school mask mandate would expire on February 28, and it was up to the individual school districts to determine if they would keep or drop the requirement. Brookfield was one of many school districts to weigh all the options, and after much consideration and informing the local community of the possible options, the school board took the initiative to become the first local school district in the area to pass this optional mask ruling.