The Worcester County Board of Education, like every other school board in the state, is waiting for the General Assembly’s Joint Committee on Administrative, Executive & Legislative Review to approve the state Board of Education’s decision to end the public school mask mandate.

The 20-member review committee, which ensures that proposed regulations don’t run afoul of the state’s legal standards is set to meet virtually at 2:30 p.m. Friday and will undoubtedly follow the board’s recommendation.

There’s no reason for it not to, considering the state school board made clear that Maryland’s high vaccination rate and dropping number of infections have made one-size-fits-all regulation unwarranted.

The board has said the time has come for local jurisdictions to make their own decisions based on their local circumstances. That, however, could be more than a notion, depending on the county.

Whether the review committee rules now or later is almost beside the point. The authority to enforce school regulations rests entirely with the  state school superintendent, and since it was  Superintendent Mohammed Choudhury who recommended the masking rule change, it isn’t likely that he will respond harshly if a local board acts a little prematurely.

Even so, the Worcester County Board of Education still faces a difficult situation. Now it will have to face the cacophony of conflicting demands and opinions from parents, teachers and advisors before deciding how to proceed.

The state mandate, at least, insulated local boards from that when it took control of that debate last fall, and its departure from the discussion puts county boards back on their own.

That’s good from the perspective of maintaining local autonomy, but board members undoubtedly know they will be walking a tightrope between varying schools of thought.

On the positive side, however, is that no matter what the Worcester board decides, the school year will end in three-and-a-half months or so, and that will be that.