Washington schools go maskless
Monday marked first day since the start of the pandemic that students in the Evergreen State were allowed to go inside school buildings without face coverings
Something felt different for Washington students Monday. Something was missing.
For the first time since schools returned to in-person learning after remote learning launched at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, students in Washington were allowed to go inside the school building without a mask. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee lifted the state’s indoor mask requirement, making mask-wearing optional for students in Asotin, Garfield and Whitman counties, and elsewhere in the state.
In Dustin Wendt’s third grade class at Grantham Elementary School in Clarkston, students were excited to leave their masks at home.
“I feel like I’m missing something,” Emmalee Maxwell said. She’s been wearing a mask at school since second grade.
“It’s different to see faces,” said Adelia Elliot, who also said the masks were itchy and made it hard to breathe. Koen Gearring and Luke Schirm also said it was different to see people’s faces, even though they didn’t have to wear masks during recess.
Teachers and staff at the school had the same feeling of excitement of seeing students’ faces — some students have been wearing masks since they started school. Grantham Principal Rob Hoffman also said it takes the pressure off of staff to enforce mask rules for students.
“It’s just nice to see the kids’ smiling faces,” said Wendt, who has been teaching at Grantham for six years.
He is now able to read the facial expressions of his students and they are also able to see other’s expressions, which Wendt said is good for developing social skills. “For other kids to know how other kids are feeling is huge,” he said.
The removal of the mask mandate is helping students and staff feel like school life is returning to normal. “Finally having kids feel like things are back to normal, to be in-person 100% and have masks off, it feels like we’re returning to normal,” Wendt said.
It also allows for kids to return to other activities like swimming lessons at the Asotin County Family Aquatic Center and other field trips. Schools can have more visitors, and volunteers are allowed in the school again. School assemblies will also be making a return.
“It helps reconnect us more as a school community,” Hoffman said.
Brewster may be contacted at kbrewster@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2297.
