A girl wears a mask after getting off the bus at Petrova Elementary School in Saranac Lake in September on the first day of classes of the 2020-21 school year. (Enterprise photo — Amy Scattergood)

School districts, parents and students have been getting mixed messages from the state and media outlets over whether masks are required to be worn in school today. Masks are still required, but districts are preparing for conversations on the topic if the state issues new guidance.

Reports on Friday indicated that the state would allow districts to choose to drop mask mandates in schools starting today, but further guidance from the state departments of Education and Health show that decision has not been made yet.

The confusion stems from a misinterpretation of a letter state Commissioner of Health Howard Zucker sent to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The letter was released in a press release from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office on Friday without much context.

In it, Zucker asks the CDC for its thoughts on the state potentially allowing districts to loosen mask requirements in schools as student vaccinations increase and districts prepare to host summer camps.

“We plan to make this guidance effective on Monday, June 7,” Zucker wrote.

The CDC has not yet responded to the state with its thoughts and the state has not issued new mask guidance.

“I think that the newspaper reports were premature,” Lake Placid Central School District Superintendent Roger Catania said. “We haven’t received an explanation as to why that was publicized the way it was. We haven’t received any explanation as to why it wasn’t directed to schools even though it’s about schools. A lot of questions remain.”

Still, Catania said the letter signifies the direction the state is eyeing going in, to eventually lift the mask mandate.

Saranac Lake Central School District Superintendent Diane Fox said this unclear letter and the misinterpretation of it have made things complicated for districts as they try to explain the situation to families.

She sent a robocall to families and staff Sunday afternoon, telling them schools still require masks.

“There’s a lot of nuance to this and a lot of layers of government between what we get do to in the school district and what (Cuomo) talks about in his press releases,” Fox said in an interview.

Tupper Lake Central School District Superintendent Russ Bartlett said he fielded multiple calls on the topic Sunday after the state Department of Education issued a clarification. He said he doesn’t blame people for being confused.

“It sort of got all of us by surprise,” he said. “If there’s one thing that seems to have been a light shined on during COVID it’s what appears to be a lack of communication between departments in Albany. … They had to have known this would cause mass confusion everywhere.”

Bartlett said the Monday deadline in Zucker’s letter was set much too soon for school superintendents or the state Education Department to do anything about it, even if the CDC had responded.

The new mask standards alluded to in Zucker’s letter would eliminate the need for masks to be worn outdoors for everyone, and though it would still strongly advise unvaccinated people to wear masks indoors, it would not require it.

As of now, Catania said the state requires all changes to be discussed by the public before being implemented. This may or may not continue in the future, he said.

Fox said she expects more guidance from the state soon. In the meantime, she said each building in the Saranac Lake district is organizing their stakeholder groups to discuss the topic, so a decision can be reached quickly if needed.

She said after these groups reach a consensus their reports will be brought to the school board for approval. If approved, the new rules would be enacted by Fox and the administration.

Superintendents said it is a big discussion to be had. Masks have been a big topic for school districts in the past year-and-a-half of the coronavirus pandemic.

“There are as many opinions as there are people,” Fox said.

Personally, Fox said she doesn’t want the rules to be more restrictive than needed.

She also worried that new rules would affect different age groups unevenly, particularly those under 12 years old who are not eligible for the vaccine yet.

“The first thing I thought about was our poor kids who haven’t even had a chance to get vaccinated yet,” Fox said.

Catania said he hopes the mask mandate is dropped for student athletes in outdoor sports.

“I would love to see at least our student athletes with the option of taking off their masks for the last week or two of the season so they can perform at the highest level they can, and safely,” Catania said.

Bartlett said he sees wide community support for mask mandate removal, but said not everyone feels that way.

In a message the state Education Department sent to superintendents, it said no changes will be made by Cuomo or the department until after today to give the CDC time to respond to Zucker’s letter.