Students start without masks

NORTH HAVERHILL—For the third time in the last three months, the Haverhill Cooperative School Board decided against requiring students to wear masks at the start of the 2021-2022 school year.
Holding a special meeting on Aug. 26 to solicit public input on reopening plans, board members narrowly rejected a proposal to impose a student mask mandate for the first month of school when the six board members attending the session deadlocked 3-3 on the motion. They also declined to require facial coverings for staff members while empowering the superintendent to change the schedule, require masks, or make other pandemic-related adjustments on an emergency interim basis.