Philly Superintendent on Mask Mandate: We ‘Expect’ a Case Increase and We Need ‘Good Attendance over the Long Term’

On Tuesday’s edition of NBC’s “Morning News Now,” Philadelphia School District Superintendent Tony Watlington Sr. stated that the school district is bringing back mask mandates because they “expect” a rise in cases and we need to “have good attendance over the long term, over the rest of the school year” because “we know we need our kids in school if we’re going to get the dropout rate down and significantly improve our graduation rate and academic achievement.”

Watlington stated, “We made this decision some time ago because we had an increase in COVID cases after Thanksgiving and we expect something similar to happen after the winter break, which was a longer break. We know that the number of cases increased. We know that the percent positive rate and hospitalizations have increased, although the absolute number of cases have remained fairly steady. So, there may be some underreporting, we don’t know. But we do know that the Philadelphia Department of Public Health supports our very strong recommendation and our decision to mask for ten days. And we don’t think we’ll do it more than ten days. We think ten days will be appropriate and adequate. But we’ll continue to follow the numbers and the science.”

He added, “It would be my personal preference not to have to wear this. However, we all have some responsibility to ensure that we have good health, not just in the city, but that we also have good attendance over the long term, over the rest of the school year for our students and staff. So, I would say that, here in Philadelphia, where we’re working really hard to become the fastest-improving large urban school district in the country, on the one hand, we know we need our kids in school if we’re going to get the dropout rate down and significantly improve our graduation rate and academic achievement.”

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