Highlands School Board may revisit its decision on whether students will be required to wear face masks when they return to schools later this month.

The board may discuss the district’s health and safety plan, and vote on changes, when it meets on Aug. 16. The board has resumed meeting in-person in the library at Highlands High School, with meetings also available on Zoom.

Under the plan as it was approved by the board on a 5-4 vote in July, wearing masks will be voluntary for students and staff when students return on Aug. 26.

At the board’s agenda meeting this week, Superintendent Monique Mawhinney said she wanted to see if the board wanted to stay with that decision or consider making masks mandatory.

Board member Kristie Babinsack said she favors requiring masks; board member Judy Wisner said parents should have the freedom to choose if their children wear masks or not.

While Mawhinney said it seemed the majority of the board favors keeping the plan as adopted, a motion to change it will be placed on next week’s meeting agenda for discussion and possible vote.

Mask mandates and requests to mask up are returning as cases of the more transmissible covid-19 delta variant increase. Community transmission is considered “substantial” in Allegheny County, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC recommends that everyone, regardless of vaccination status, wear masks indoors in counties where transmission is substantial or high. Businesses have begun again requiring or, like Giant Eagle, strongly urging people to wear masks indoors.

Nathan Petrak of Harrison said he was disheartened the district would ignore the advice of experts and county, state and federal agencies in making masks optional.

“As much as I don’t like wearing them, the simple fact is they work,” he said. “We did so well with this last year.”

With covid cases surging among children, Petrak said it will not get better when children get back into classrooms together. “It’s only going to get worse,” he said.

Kristy Stawinski of Brackenridge, a life skills support teacher at Highlands Elementary School, asked the board to consider requiring masks at the start of the new school year.

With the spread of covid considered substantial in Allegheny County, Stawinski said the district is no better off now than it was at the start of the last school year.

“Last year, we saw great success with masks,” she said. “We had much less sickness overall in our classroom of special needs students.”

Jen Bosak of Fawn, a nurse and member of Highlands’ task force for reopening schools, said it is “unfair” for the board to be put in the position of making the decision on masks, but believes everybody should be masked up, and asked the board to follow the science.

“I hope everyone understands we can’t make everyone happy,” she said. “This hand should not have been dealt to you guys.”