OCALA, Fla. – Lawmakers are teaming up to give educators clear face masks to help the relationship between students and teachers in classrooms.
Faye Goring, owner of Toddler Town Academy in Ocala, received the first box of ClearMasks, on Thursday and said the new mask will change things in the classroom.
“When children get to see your face, they are more comfortable with what you’re doing,” Faye said.
Goring said wearing a regular mask has made it difficult to teach sounds and words to her preschoolers. She said the ClearMask will allow her to be more visible to her students, which she said is essential for brain development.
“Just yesterday, we went over the letter ‘B’ and we had a lot of them saying ‘puh.’” Goring said. “I’m like, ‘No guys,’ so they had to take their masks off so they can actually see (me),” Goring said.
Florida Sen. Dennis Baxley was present for the distribution of the masks.
“For them to be given the guidelines of how to be safe and then implement those in their settings, this is part of that innovation. If you let people solve problems, they will,” Baxley said.
The Kiwanis Club of Ocala and the Early Learning Coalition of Marion County purchased 2,600 masks, which will be distributed to 160 early learning centers in the community.