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On the heels of school districts across the state lifting mask mandates and a remarkable drop in COVID-19 cases in Cook County, the I.S.D. 166 school board moved to suspend policy 808, the face masking policy, which required all students to wear masks in school and allowed the superintendent to decide whether the kids should wear masks.
The school board made its decision during a special meeting held Thursday, February 24, 2022.
Dan Shirley, the board chair, authored the policy. He said the decision would allow the school district to be “more responsive and less heavy-handed.” Shirley added that the board’s decisions could at times be slow and cumbersome and take weeks to enact while the school administration was on hand and very capable of making sound decisions for the students.
Someone pointed out that nearly 90 percent of the county has at least one COVID-19 vaccination, and Cook County has the highest percentage of vaccinated people in the state.
There were no reported cases of covid in the school district the week of the school board special meeting and only one case the week before that, noted Shirley.
The policy went into effect Monday, February 28.
Shirley said this would give staff, parents and kids time to talk about the change so they could make decisions about the move away from universal mask-wearing. Students and staff could, of course, still wear masks if they choose to do so. He added the school would continue its handwashing and cleaning policy, and younger kids would continue to eat lunch in their classrooms.
Superintendent Chris Lindholm told the board that the C.D.C. still recommends wearing masks for indoor activities, but it is no longer a mandate. However, masks must be worn on school buses and other public transportation through March 18, when it might change.
Lindholm also said because of masking, he has never seen most kids’ faces, nor have they seen his face since his arrival this school year as the new superintendent.
Over the last two years wearing masks was just one of several provisions the school district set up to help stymie the spread of COVID-19. For three-fourths of the 2019-2020 school year, distance learning was held, and when kids returned to classrooms, the rooms were configured to keep kids a safe distance from each other. An air filtration system was also installed that helped kill the COVID-19 virus airborne droplets.
The school district also followed guidelines set up by the Minnesota Department of Education Minnesota Safe Learning Plan, as well as worked with the Minnesota Department of Health (M.D.H.) and consulted with a team that includes local health care professionals and school stakeholders to make sure students, staff and workers are safe.
Should covid cases come roaring back, Shirley said the school board could always vote to re-enact policy 808, which calls for wearing face masks indoors and outdoors if separation of fewer than six feet occurred. That would account for visitors to the school and children, staff, and administration.
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