Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) announced it would make masks optional on Tuesday, March 1, for both staff and students. A letter from FCPS Superintendent Scott Brabrand cited new Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidance, not Senate Bill 739, a state law overriding local regulations and making masks a parent’s choice.

“We are encouraged by the continued decline in COVID-19 cases in our community,” Brabrand wrote in his letter to FCPS staff. “However, we are also committed to keeping our schools safe for all to learn and work in person. Please continue to do your part to maintain a healthy environment by monitoring for illness and staying home when sick.”

FCPS issued a statement two days after Gov. Youngkin signed Senate Bill 739, confirming that FCPS would abide by the law by lifting the mask mandate on March 1.

“We recognize our legal obligations and will maintain our commitment to the health and safety of our students and staff,” a message from Superintendent Scott Brabrand said on Feb. 18.

McLean students have expressed a variety of reactions to the new law. For some, it makes school and club participation easier.

“My initial reaction hearing about the new law was positive, [since] I’m a part of [the] McLean Crew [team] and before the law, we were forced to wear masks while working out since we were inside,” junior Kabir Suri said. “[Overall,] I am not too concerned about the law… [getting vaccinated] is a person’s decision and [wearing] a mask is also a person’s decision.”

Others believe the new FCPS regulations and Senate Bill 739 will harm students.

“I think [the rules] will have a negative effect on students’ mental health, especially [those] with health anxiety,” junior Mati Toro said. “[The rules are] not changing anything for the better. It’s just letting people get away with [not wearing a mask properly, which] they’ve been getting away with for a while.”

The effectiveness of the current mask mandate has long been criticized at McLean due to a lack of adequate regulation to ensure students are wearing masks correctly or at all. Generally, students believe other students tend to wear their masks improperly more than teachers do.

“The mask mandate hasn’t felt strict at all or efficient at all,” Toro said. “The amount of kids I’ve seen walking around the halls with their masks almost completely down feels really unsafe.”

While some students occasionally forget to pull their mask up, others do not wear theirs correctly on purpose and welcome the new mask regulation changes.

“I have never liked [the mask mandate], and [it is] useless given the fact that nobody wears their mask properly,” sophomore Kevin Huheey said. “Every single day, I don’t even wear mine properly.”

As FCPS prepares to go mask-optional, there are concerns about those with pre-existing conditions, and how many students and staff will remove their masks.

“[The law] affects other students because not every single student at McLean has the choice to be protected by the vaccine—some of them are immunocompromised,” sophomore Ahroh Ko said.

For math teacher Emily Jaffa, who has pre-existing health conditions that make her more vulnerable to COVID-19 complications, the change in masking policy could be risky.

“I want to be able to come to work and feel safe and stay healthy,” Jaffa said. “I want my life to be disrupted as little as possible, and I think that masks help to minimize disruption to help keep us in school.”

Tensions on masking are already high, but it’s possible that the mask mandate rollback could lead to even more conflicts in school now that people’s political choices are outwardly visible.

“For me, [masks are] about respect,” biology teacher Julia Murdock said. “I wear my mask out of respect for the people around me to protect them from my job.”

A Highlander poll of 207 students indicated that a majority of students plan to continue wearing masks, but recent masking regulations changes in even the most liberal states could be changing students’ opinions.

“If I’m in a situation where I forgot to wear a mask or I don’t want to necessarily wear it at the time, I probably won’t wear it,” Suri said.

Other students, on the other hand, plan to ditch the mask completely.

“I like my freedom, and I will just be following the new Virginia law,” Huheey said.