Several western Massachusetts school districts say that for now, they have no choice but to keep mask requirements in place when the statewide mandate expires at the end of the month.
Under the new state guidance, individual school districts can decide whether students and staff must keep masks on after February 28.
Northampton, Holyoke and Amherst-Pelham Regional say they don't expect to get rid of face coverings anytime soon.
Michael Morris is the superintendent of the Amherst-Pelham Regional School District.
"In our community, there is a mask mandate — an indoor mask mandate in the community," Morris said. "So until that changes, not much [is] happening on this front."
The Northampton and Holyoke schools also said they'll keep masks in place because of citywide indoor masks rules.
In a letter to families, the Holyoke superintendent said the system would have to do its own due diligence before lifting the mask requirement and noted vaccination rates among school-age children in the city significantly lag the state average.