The school board reverses the course and imposes masks on students and staff

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) – The Hair County Board of Education voted 5-0 on Thursday evening to demand masks for students and staff at schools starting Friday, Sept. 3.

Superintendent Ryan Saxe recommended the policy that preschool students through 12th grade must wear masks to school and on buses, regardless of the state of the vaccine, unless they have a medical excuse for not carry them.

Students will not be required to wear outdoor masks.

Saxe says the mask’s mandate would be withdrawn if the county was put green, yellow or gold on the state’s color map for 5 consecutive days. Under this scenario, masks would be recommended.

School officials say they currently have 170 students who have tested positive for COVID-19 and more than 1,000 in quarantine.

Board Chair Mary Neely said she acknowledges that this decision will be annoying to many, but it is clear to the health department that cases have increased rapidly since the start of the school year. She says they do not want the rate of transmission to continue its trend and force the district to return to remote learning.

Neely voted for the mandate after voting against it two weeks ago.

Board member Skip Parsons also went on to vote for the mask’s mandate, citing the rise in virus cases.

“I’m willing to give up some freedom to vote yes for the mask,” Parsons said.

“We knew there would be positive cases and quarantines,” Superintendent Ryan Saxe said, “but I think forty people had to be made because of the close contacts who weren’t wearing masks and they started stretching the district’s resources and staffing.” .

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