The Bladen County Board of Education voted Friday to require masks covering the mouth and nose when schools open on Monday. The requirement is in effect regardless of vaccination status while indoors except for those with legal exemptions already established by the NCDHHS StrongSchools NC Public Health Toolkit.
The board took the action during an emergency meeting and reversed its optional mask decision made Aug. 9.
Additionally and per CDC’s Order, all passengers, including students and staff, will be required to wear a mask on buses, vans, and other group transportation owned by Bladen County Schools.
The board said it will consider exemptions based on medical or behavioral challenges that would be impacted by a face covering.
“This action is necessary due to the high level of transmission from the Delta variant of COVID-19 in our community and in an effort to keep students and staff members in school for in-person learning,” the Board of Education said in a news release. “We all know how important it is for our students to return to in-person learning, five days a week.
“A universal mask policy will protect the health of our school community, and should also greatly reduce the need to quarantine students named a close contact to a COVID positive case. Per NCDHHS and local health leaders, non-symptomatic students wearing a mask consistently and correctly do not have to automatically quarantine if they are named a close contact. Correct and consistent mask use is a critical step everyone can take to prevent getting and spreading COVID-19 and can assist with contact tracing, which, in many cases, allows students and staff to remain in school and our athletic programs to continue.
“We will continue to evaluate the rate of transmission in our community over the days and weeks ahead and will be reviewed, at a minimum, during each monthly board meeting in accordance with local COVID-19 patterns and metrics.
“We are striving to protect the valuable instructional time that our students will receive this year. We are focused on helping our students thrive and excel both academically and socially-emotionally. We look forward to a new school year and working in partnership with our families and community members to achieve this goal.
Watch the board meeting on BladenOnline’s YouTube channel linked below.
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