Some daycares and preschools in the Big Apple say they are taking matters into their own hands amid back-and-forths from the city and the courts over the early mask mandate — and risk fines by making masks optional.
A principal of a Manhattan facility said she sent a note to her parents last week to allow their children to wear an optional mask, believing the mayor would hold his end and scrap the term for children ages 2-4 years old Monday. as promised.
But on Friday, even after a Staten Island judge ruled in favor of lifting the mandate, Adams said the city would appeal the decision as COVID-19 cases rose again and the order to mask had to remain.
The principal said she didn’t know how to cancel her note to the parents.
“I’m not going to send another memo to parents to confuse them,” she said. “We can’t keep having all these changes. It’s very disturbing. »
A Bronx pre-K principal also said she would not enforce the mandate for families choosing not to mask their children.
“We’re in this uncertainty of ‘it’s necessary, it’s not necessary,'” she said.
“We cannot continue to do this with the parents. It is very confusing and upsetting. I think it doesn’t create a lot of confidence.
“Young children need consistency, and the message is not consistent,” she said, adding that the confusion predates developments over the past week.
“They take the mask off for lunch, to rest, when they play outside – then they put the mask back on.”
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