FORT FAIRFIELD, Maine — Following in the footsteps of schools in Massachusetts and Connecticut, the Fort Fairfield school district will make wearing masks optional starting on March 7.
The school board voted on Feb. 17 in favor of transitioning from mandatory to optional masking one week after the district’s winter break ends. The school will continue to do weekly pool testing, and when optional masking begins, the school will still continue to social distance in classrooms.
All board members spoke in favor of transitioning to optional masking, with Superintendent Tim Doak recommending to put the new policy in effect a week after coming back from break, in order to have a smooth transition.
“Case numbers are down and vaccine rates are up,” Doak said. “Those who aren’t vaccinated by now likely are not going to be. I do think that the start date of the 7th would be the best time.”
Updates to the standard operating procedure for COVID-19 protocols would eliminate contact tracing regardless of mask status.
Fort Fairfield high school seniors have begun submitting their first round of senior exhibitions, which are projects they take on in order to graduate. They start by picking any topic they find interesting, and finding a mentor outside of the school to help them learn more about their topic of interest.
This culminates in the student creating a product around their topic, which can take the form of a lesson plan or a crafted physical product. Finally, the students receive their final grade after giving 20-minute presentations on their topics to a panel of five judges.
The elementary school spent a series of days creating a snowman village outside, adding more to it each day. This allowed students to collaborate on projects while also enjoying the winter elements.
The district is still looking to hire a special education director, as well as another custodian, bus driver and music teacher.
The board also discussed future possibilities of allowing students to gain high school credit while gaining experience working in the district. A couple of the jobs students took on included classroom aides or administrative assistants in the main office.
The board also reported that much like in other parts of the state, the district saw a 152 percent increase in its cost for electricity, and a 32 percent increase in its cost for insurance.
The board has set budget workshops for March 15 and 24.
The Fort Fairfield school board meeting will take place at 6 p.m. on March 8 in the Fort Fairfield Middle/High school library.
The full Feb. 17 meeting can be found on the MSAD 20 website.
