Dunedin schools appear to be taking a wait-and-see approach to dropping face masks, now that the country has moved to an Orange traffic light setting.
Kaikorai Valley College principal Rick Geerlofs said pupils were asked to continue wearing masks on Thursday and a decision about whether to continue wearing them would be made at the end of the school holidays.
"We’re just going to play it a little bit by ear and see what happens over the next two weeks, as to what the Covid-19 case numbers are doing in Dunedin.
"Case numbers are reasonably high at the moment, compared to the rest of the country, but come the end of the holidays we may see that trending down significantly, and if so, we’ll make a call as to whether we continue with mandatory mask wearing at the school."
He said if case numbers were still high, there was strong justification for continuation.
"It could be a battle with students if they know it is not mandatory and case numbers are dropping.
"We’re just saying, ‘is that a battle we want to pick’.
"Regardless of where we go, we will be strongly encouraging the use of masks at big gatherings like assemblies."
Carisbrook School principal Katrina Munro said at present, she was seriously considering keeping masks in place for next term, but like other principals, she would not make a final decision until the end of the holidays.
"We’ll be looking at what’s happening around case numbers and we’ll balance that against how many of our staff and pupils have had Covid, and what realistically we have to be prepared for if we haven’t peaked.
"What is really disappointing is the Government’s saying masks aren’t compulsory in schools, but they are strongly encouraging their use.
"They are leaving boards of trustees to make that decision which can put schools in conflict with their whanau.
"Of course, we know all the reasons why we don’t want to wear masks, but at the end of the day, we’ve got to do what’s right for our staff and students."
Balaclava School principal Gary Marsh said if Covid-19 numbers did drop, they would make mask-wearing optional.
"We’re going to say to our community that it will be optional because we do have some kids who are immune-compromised.
"They may continue to wear masks and we would support that if they want to, but obviously because it’s not compulsory any more, we wouldn’t be enforcing mask-wearing."
