Students across Alaska are heading back to school. Most will go back to in-person learning, and most students, teachers and staff will be wearing masks to start the school year, with a few exceptions.

Out of the top five biggest districts in Alaska, three have implemented optional mask policies: the Mat-Su, Fairbanks, and Kenai Peninsula school districts.

But out of the 10 largest districts, seven are requiring universal masking inside school buildings. And across the state, more than half of all districts are starting the school year with universal mask policies.

Some district plans remain in flux. For example, the Ketchikan School District is still drafting its policy, but the current draft plan says the district’s mask policy will be determined by the borough’s risk level as indicated by the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services. Currently, Ketchikan’s risk level is “High,” which correlates to a universal mask policy according to the district’s draft plan.

MASK POLICIES OF ALASKA’S LARGEST DISTRICTS

The state continues to grapple with a surge in COVID-19 cases driven by the delta variant of the virus as students prepare to return to school. Nearly every region in Alaska is now at a high alert level for COVID-19 cases.

Some districts, like Ketchikan and Sitka, are aligning their risk levels with the COVID-19 alert levels in their city and letting those risk levels determine mask policies. But other districts are forging ahead with different metrics.

Mask wearing becomes a political issue

The Mat-Su school district has forged its own path since the beginning of the pandemic as the largest district to continue with in-person learning while other districts closed their doors to students.

Superintendent Randy Trani said that experience informs its current mask policy: each school is being treated as its own community and the district’s advisory team will determine if a classroom or a school needs to implement masking. This is how the district determined whether to close classrooms or schools due to COVID-19 spread last year.

But, the district also heard strong feedback against masking, Trani said. The district conducted a survey and responses showed people were against the mask mandate by almost 7-1. So, the current optional policy is attempting to thread a needle.

“We think it meets our community where they’re at, more so than either ‘never any masks’ or ‘always masks,’” Trani said. “We’re trying to strike that middle ground, where we’re doing what they want, what they prefer, and maintaining a level of safety when needed.”

Trani said the district isn’t just deferring to the community. Implementing a mask mandate could present a different safety risk, he said.

“If we put into place a policy that’s going to keep a significant amount of our children out of school in Mat-Su, that comes with the risk of increased harm to kids,” Trani said. “It’s good for us to have kids in school, and we’re trying to do this balancing act where we have kids in school, and we maintain the ability to mask when needed.”

Deep divisions within communities have turned masking policies into a political debate across the country.

In Florida, the governor has threatened to withhold school funding and teachers’ salaries if school districts try to implement mask policies, while in Washington State the state schools superintendent said school funding would stop if they did not follow the ongoing statewide school mask mandate.

In Alaska, neither the state education department, the commissioner or the state board have legal authority to step in on this matter according to the department. And Governor Dunleavy has historically emphasized local control on the matter. A spokesperson for the governor said Dunleavy’s position hasn’t changed.

In an op-ed posted on a conservative blog, Dunlevy wrote that the principles of limited government, and the law, prevent him from stepping in on local matters one way or the other:

This doesn’t mean I’m not vehemently opposed to some of things that have occurred in our largest borough, but disagreement doesn’t absolve me of my oath of office. It certainly doesn’t remove Anchorage’s emergency health powers or allow me to toss aside the leaders voters elected.

In the interest of thoroughness, I have once again asked my legal team if there’s any place in the Alaska Constitution or statutes that allows me to intervene when I, or others, don’t like the policies being put forth by duly elected officials.

We’ve found no such authority, and for that we should all be thankful.

But some Alaskan communities remain split on the issue — debating mask wearing and even the severity of the pandemic.

More children are getting sick with COVID

Nationally, children are making up a growing share of people who are getting sick with COVID as the vaccinated population increases. According to a recent report from the American Academy of Pediatrics, about 20% of all COVID-19 cases in Alaska and 2% of all COVID-19 hospitalizations in Alaska since the pandemic began have been children.

Alaska Health Department epidemiologist Anna Frick said the data on masking is “surprisingly excellent,” and masks are simple and effective. At the start of the pandemic most people heard that masking was about source control — protecting others by helping to prevent a person who knowingly or unknowingly has COVID-19 from spreading it to other people.

“But as data’s come out, it’s really shown that masks can do a great job of protecting you, the wearer, as well,” Frick said. “So it’s really, it’s attacking the problem from both sides.”

Even though data shows appropriate masking works very well, implementation and policy is a trickier problem, Frick said, especially for schools.

“One of the things with children, particularly, is that complicated sets of rules with lots of changes and guidance that’s changing all the time, is going to be just really hard for everyone to follow.” Frick said.

But vaccination also continues to be an important tool and is a main factor in determining mask policies. Frick said that in places where the vaccination rate is high and community transmission of COVID-19 is low, the benefit of wearing a mask is fairly small.

“But in areas where community transmission is high, or where students aren’t able to be vaccinated due to age or there’s low uptake of vaccine, then the mask is probably providing a lot of benefit in those situations,” Frick said

What will the rest of the school year look like?

More than half of all school districts in Alaska are following a universal mask policy.

Several districts, like the Lower Kuskokwim School District, specifically cite CDC and AAP guidance for masking in schools. The guidance recommends universal masking at all times, although both organizations say local conditions should factor into school communities decisions around mask wearing.

Some districts, like the Pelican School District are using a split policy where masking only applies in specific situations like hallways but not individual classrooms or applies to only part of the population, whether it be only teachers, only visitors, only those under 12 or those over 12.

Most districts are maintaining the different learning options that became available during the pandemic last year, such as remote/virtual learning and homeschooling. But every district is making in-person learning a priority. The message that kids need to be in school is one that’s being echoed from the White House to the CDC and American Academy of Pediatrics, all the way down to local school boards.

School closure is likely to be a last resort for most districts, especially larger ones. But as districts try to navigate what’s become a difficult political battle, and knowing that mask policies will likely change throughout the school year, for some districts requiring masks is a way to help keep the doors open.

Notes about the data: 

• The analysis includes Mt. Edgecumbe High School in 'all districts' but the map does not display Mt. Edgecumbe as its own district.
• ‘Rural’ and ‘Urban’ districts are as defined by the state for the US Department of Education.
• There were three (3) districts that did not have a mask policy posted online and did not respond to a request for information about their policy.
• For districts that did not have a recently updated mask policy, this report uses the policy indicated by the district’s SMART START PLAN submitted to the state department of education.  
• The plans are likely to change. 
• District enrollment totals are from the 2020-2021 school year and include homeschool students which may have significantly changed a district’s enrollment from what it normally sees.