Mask confusion: Students, parents wonder what's next with mandate

A State Supreme Court judge’s ruling that overturned Gov. Kathy Hochul's indoor mask mandate created massive confusion Tuesday as parents, students and teachers navigated a new learning environment that differed by district in their masking policy and enforcement.

A state appellate division judge on Tuesday suspended the ruling issued Monday by State Supreme Court Judge Thomas Rademaker, meaning the masking mandate was back in effect. But before that decision came, Long Island districts scrambled to respond to Rademaker’s ruling that said the governor’s mandate was unconstitutional.

At least 23 districts sent out notices to parents Monday night to say that masking would become optional Tuesday, though at least two reversed their position Tuesday morning.

In Manhasset schools, where masking was required, Isabella Bonati, a junior at the Manhasset Secondary School, said she and a handful of other unmasked students were declined access to the building.

School officials said unmasked students could stay in the library for remote learning.

Bonati, 16, said she had a note from her mother, Tina Bonati.

"I've been here since 7:30 in the freezing cold," Isabella said late Tuesday morning outside the school. "I've missed like four or five periods of school. … I feel extremely annoyed. I think that my rights to education should not be denied because of an unconstitutional act."

Tina Bonati said in a follow-up interview that her daughter didn’t go to the library because she didn’t want to be separated from her classmates. "My daughter is not against masks," Tina Bonati said. "She just wants everyone to have the choice."

Police officers responded to the high school in Manhasset "due to several students not wearing face coverings," Nassau police said. No arrests were made.

Several students chose to remain in the library for the day, according to a letter that was later issued to the school community from acting Superintendent Gaurav Passi.

"We share the community’s frustration with the conflicting messages from governing authorities and their legal counsel," Passi's letter also said. "It is understandable that there was great confusion today around the mask mandate. The vast majority of students at all three of our schools complied today with the District’s request to wear masks."

Sydney Putterman, 9, was allowed to stay at Jennie E. Hewitt Elementary School in Rockville Centre with her parents’ note, said her father, David Putterman.

Rockville Centre schools, which told parents Monday night that masking would be optional, later reversed its position and required them Tuesday.

Putterman said he received a call from the school principal, and they agreed to place the fourth-grader six feet apart from others.

"While I guess we could take issue with her being kind of singled out and segregated, my wife and I decided, you know, we'll take it as a win that she doesn't wear a mask," the father of two said.

While some parents cheered the new masking-optional policy, others were left disappointed.

Esther Moy, a mother of two boys who attend a Levittown elementary school, said she has tried to maintain consistency by telling her children to wear a mask in school regardless of the rules. Masking was optional in Levittown schools Tuesday.

"I simplify by [telling them] that the adults are fighting and arguing over should we wear a mask or not," she said. "It's just that at the height of the omicron, we do not think that it’s the right time to take off our mask." Although the surge fueled by the omicron variant is starting to decline, the number of COVID-19 cases remains relatively high.

Moy said she believes it’s safer to wear a mask but respects other people’s choices.

"I'm not against people who don't want to wear a mask," she said. "There's going to be a higher risk. But at the same time, we can’t control what other people do. So we just do our best to protect ourselves."

The rapid-fire series of events also caught some teachers off guard.

Cordelia Anthony, a science teacher and president of the Farmingdale Federation of Teachers, said some staff members walked into school Tuesday morning unaware of the policy change because the notice was sent out late Monday night.

"Out of the 550 teachers, not everybody's even awake at 9:54 p.m. when you have to teach at 7 o'clock," she said. "If we had just kept everything in place until we could all process this, it would have given some people a little bit more comfort."

In her classes, Anthony said, most of the high school students wore a mask Tuesday. As the day progressed, she said, more teenagers took them off.

The latest court ruling came as a relief for Ryan Wenzel, who had been home-schooling her children due to the Island’s high COVID-19 positivity rates since school reopened Jan. 3.

She had planned to send her children back to Wantagh Elementary School next week but the mask-optional policy in effect Tuesday gave her pause.

"I'm hoping by the end of this week, maybe things will have settled down a little bit," she said. "I want my kids back in school safely."

With Cecilia Dowd