School Choice in the Age of COVID: The Mask Issue

 

With the recent recommendation(s) for mask wearing in US schools for the 2021 Fall openings the arguments, fights, debates, and political / partisan divides over this particular issue could help provide a reasonable path forward for competently addressing these disputed among different groups. This is particularly true for states that have passed legislation or had official mandates issued to prevent school districts from ‘requiring’ mask wearing in a public school. Now from a public policy perspective there is never going to be a single public policy agreed to and an accepted resolution in any state. In a large population it is just illogical to expect there is going to be a sound and reasoned policy accepted by public who cannot agree on anything.

However, this irreconcilable difference in positions may actually offer what would seem to be the obvious solution. Why need there be a ‘single’ school solution that must be imposed upon one side or the other? After all, there are other options and solutions that might not only be agreeable to all parties but which provides additional benefits to the schools, the states and the nation. Wouldn’t it serve the public’s interest much better if rather than spend the time, energy and resources fighting over who’s rights and freedoms, and who’s political alignment is being supported to have a solution which satisfies the positions taken by each individual family and the schools and state/local leadership? If not, why is it essential that the interests of some must be sacrificed at the expense of others?

As to the solution I would think it would be obvious to politicians or school administrators. Implement a two-choice voluntary system. Let individual families choose whether their students attend a class where every student wears a mask, or they can choose to attend their class with students who do not wear masks. This selection would be applied across all aspects of the school. This would require that the schools plan and organize the execution of the school programs and class around this separation scheme. Who doesn’t get what they want if you just operate along a principle of let each family choose their own level of risks.

Another advantage of this dual-track approach would be that it could even accommodate a Vaccinated and Unvaccinated dimension related to the families’ adults. Of course, the Vaccinated vs Not Vaccinated dimension may almost perfectly align or overlap with the mask versus no-mask dimension.

From a public health policy perspective, this voluntary choice policy would enable the healthcare entities to gather data on the efficacy of the two choices. Since each group would have made their choice based on the same information and recommendations that have been made available by the experts there is no reason that the schools or government should be held accountable for those choices and any consequential outcomes. It’s a perfect solution. Everyone gets what they want and any consequences are within the scope of their choice.