Cambridge Public Schools will make masks optional for students and staff starting Monday. Officials called it a difficult decision and warned the school community to be sensitive to people’s decisions to stay masked against the spread of coronavirus or not.

There were two hours of School Committee discussion Tuesday in which even members wondered about the process for a mask decision, and the mayor said she would be “happy” to call a special meeting on the topic. The deliberations led only to sending the idea back to the working group – which also doesn’t decide.

The Cambridge Education Association moved stalled contract negotiations with Cambridge Public Schools out from behind closed doors and into the court of public opinion this week via letters and social media and by demonstrating outside the building where the School Committee meets.

A timetable showing full implementation of universal prekindergarten in Cambridge arriving in 2026 had some long-serving officials boiling over with frustration at a roundtable of the City Council and School Committee.

Declining school enrollment, improvements at the Rindge School of Technical Arts and echoes of an enduring debate over standardized tests and the achievement gap caught city councillors’ attention at a budget priorities roundtable with the School Committee.

A drop-off in enrollment of Cambridge Public Schools’ youngest students that may signal long-term changes was discussed with budget projections last week by the School Committee, and a roundtable on priorities is set for Tuesday with the City Council.

With a weeklong break coming Feb. 21, the school district is applying lessons learned from January’s school restart, as well as trying more efficient and accurate in-school Covid-testing protocols and more vaccine and booster-shot hours.

High school graduation requirements around health education will change over the next few years – including for student athletes – to better address issues such as coercion, power dynamics and how to ask for consent. School Committee members passed the changes swiftly on Tuesday.

Victoria Greer has been approved as permanent superintendent retroactive to Jan. 1. The committee made the move unanimously, then voted unanimously to make the change ineligible for further debate.

While there’s been a high rate of student absences since the end of a winter break that saw a surge in coronavirus cases, many school district staff are also in isolation due to Covid, including nurses and medical aides, putting additional pressure on administrators and staff.