At an emergency meeting on Thursday, March 3, the Gorham School Committee voted unanimously to make masks optional for all school students and employees as of Monday, March 7. This followed the decision of Governor Mills and the Maine CDC to allow for voluntary masking the same week.

During the week before the change, school leaders and staff had been working to plan and ensure a smooth transition from required masking to optional masking. They spent time talking with staff and students about the importance of making sure that individual choices in this matter are fully respected and encouraged.

It is essential that the decision to mask be viewed as an individual’s choice. Everyone in the school community will continue to be supported through their decisions.

Superintendent Heather Perry, in her blog on March 4, thanked the community for the two plus years of hard work and dedication that it has taken for us to move successfully from the pandemic phase to the endemic phase. “In order to stay here and to keep COVID-19 at bay,” she encouraged, “the continued importance of the safety precautions that need to be followed are:

• Continue your daily health screening routines. If Sick – STAY HOME.
• If experiencing symptoms, test.
• If you test positive for COVID-19, report to the school nurse so she is aware and can help guide you regarding specific protocols. Isolate for at least 5 days. If asymptomatic on day 6, return to school is possible but A MASK IS REQUIRED to be worn on days 6-10.
• Wash/sanitize hands frequently.
• Maintain physical distancing of 3 ft to the extent possible.
• Strongly consider getting vaccinated/boosted if you haven’t already done so.

By continuing to work together we will ensure continued forward progress — I have no doubt! GO RAMS!”