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“We are committed to following public health guidance, and our health officials have stated that masks in schools are no longer required but still recommended,” said Superintendent Vince Matthews.

Matthews said the pandemic has required the district to “constantly change,” but that he believes it is moving in the right direction “when we follow the science.”

San Francisco Unified joins Piedmont, Alameda, Mt. Diablo, Mill Valley, Dublin, San Ramon and many other districts across the Bay Area in aligning with the state. Oakland and Berkeley were among those that had not yet announced a decision by Friday afternoon, and Berkeley lifted outside mask mandates only last week.

Some families celebrated the move, saying it’s important for kids to return to normalcy, while others will surely worry about the change, citing the potential for the virus to make the unvaccinated and medically vulnerable quite ill.

“Many SFUSD parents will be breathing a sigh of relief upon learning that their school district will continue to follow the guidance of their local health department rather than forging an independent path unmoored to local health policy,” said Dr. Jeanne Noble, UCSF Emergency Department director of COVID response.

Parent Cindy Burg was among them.

“We know the science has been clear,” she said. “I know there are kids that may be at higher risk and those kids should still be able to mask. It should be a choice at this point.”

But she also noted that it will likely take time to get her son, who’s in the second grade in the district, to get used to it.

“He’s such a rule follower,” she said, adding he’s had a mask on his face for much of the past two years. “It’s going to take him a while to get comfortable with it.”

And the decision is likely to cause concern among many communities disproportionately effected by the pandemic, or those with greater risk of severe illness because of health conditions.

“I do worry my children could contract the disease or there might be another surge,” said San Francisco parent Jianqiao Zhen, speaking through a Cantonese translator. “Or there might be another surge and I believe (lifting the mandate) needs to be delayed.”

Health experts have cautioned that if there’s another surge or another concerning variant, masks might need to be reinstated.

In lifting the mandate, Gov. Gavin Newsom said school districts and individuals would be making their own decisions.

“One size does not fit all in California,” he told The Chronicle recently, adding masks are still “strongly recommended,” particularly in areas that continue to have higher case rate numbers.

Newsom added that it’s important to not blame anyone for wearing masks or not wearing masks as the mandates lift.

“We want no scapegoating,” he said. “We don’t want anyone to be stigmatized on that.”

San Francisco is joining many districts throughout the region, although a few haven’t yet decided or are waiting on county guidance.

On Feb. 28, state officials announced that California, along with Oregon and Washington, would lift the K-12 school mask mandate starting March 12. All states urged unvaccinated adults and students to continue wearing masks in schools. The mask mandate was also dropped for California child care facilities.

The San Francisco public health department agreed last week to align with the state and drop the mandate, but the same day, a San Francisco Unified deputy superintendent said, “Universal indoor masking will continue to be in effect at SFUSD as part of our layered approach to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in our schools.”

Some infectious disease experts said before Friday’s announcement it was reasonable for the district to keep the mask mandate.

One question is whether the city can encourage more families to vaccinate younger children before the change takes effect. More than 87% of those 5 and older in San Francisco are fully vaccinated, according to city officials, although among those 5 to 11, an estimated 69% have had the complete series of shots.

Among children under 11, vaccination rates in the city vary widely by race and ethnicity, with just 29% of Black children and 48% of Hispanic children fully vaccinated compared to 81% of Asian and 64% of white children. Pacific Islander and American Indian students also have lower rates.

“We recognize changes in masking … will be a transition for our community,” Matthews said in a statement. “We are starting with middle and high schools, where there are higher vaccination rates, in order to give more time for families of younger students to get their children vaccinated.”