Before Sheepscot Valley Regional School Unit’s board meets again in March, if Maine Center for Disease Control stops requiring masks for schools to avoid contact tracing, Superintendent of Schools Howard Tuttle can make masks optional, the board decided Feb. 10.

“Sometimes (the Center’s procedures), you can wake up in the morning and they’ve changed,” Tuttle said. “And I don’t know if they will or not, but there’s a lot of talk about that, and I would hate for, given the climate and the energy around this, and the next board meeting is the second week in March, for us to wait for that vote ... doesn’t seem necessary.”

Before he made a change, he would speak with the teachers union, Tuttle said. “This would be a process, (not) a knee-jerk reaction.” Responding to concerns Windsor member Ryan Carver voiced, Tuttle clarified he wasn’t suggesting teachers would decide. Speaking with employees about a big change in their workplace is the right thing to do, he said.

Carver later opposed the prospect of calling a special board meeting. He predicted that would have “parents knocking the doors down. I think when the CDC releases the guidelines, if we don’t have a split (second) reaction, it’s going to cause some heat in towns.” People are sick of the masks, he said at another point.

Westport Island member Mary Coventry supported Tuttle’s proposal. “It gives him the permission to take the steps necessary to adjust the plan ...”

Whitefield parent Angela Sullivan said in public comment, parts of the nation are ending COVID mandates and SVRSU should. “I want the masks off my kids. COVID has run rampant in our communities. The masks haven’t stopped it.”

Also Feb. 10, Tuttle presented a 2022-23 budget draft he called “very preliminary” with moving parts including health insurance costs and LD 1789. The board passed a resolution opposing the bill that, according to legislature.maine.gov, Sen. Chloe Maxmin, D - Nobleboro, presented, would increase the tuition districts like SVRSU pay high schools for students who also attend classes at vocational centers. Emailed Monday for comment, Maxmin wrote back: “I’m asking that this bill die in committee.”

Asked afterward for comment, Tuttle said that was a surprise. “I hope it does die in committee.” How would the budget look without it? He doubts towns’ 2022-23 tabs will be flat with 2021-22, but any increase would be much, much less than if the bill becomes law, because that was most of it, Tuttle said. 

The Feb. 10 draft, with LD 1789 figured in, put the budget’s total local cost at $14.3 million, up 9.3%.