The next steps regarding masking requirements for North Wasco County School District 21 (NWCSD) was discussed in the superintendent’s report during last Thursday’s school board meeting.
“We have got a survey together that we’re going to go live tomorrow with our families and staff just to gather their feedback as it relates to universal masking in schools,” said Superintendent Carolyn Bernal during the virtual meeting. “We’ll utilize that feedback as we plan how school will look when we return from spring break.”
In a Feb. 7 press release, the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) announced that Oregon would lift its indoor masking requirement, including inside school buildings, “no later than March 31” due to a decline in COVID-19 related hospitalizations, and could be lifted on an earlier date if rates continue to improve.
“Over the coming weeks,” said the press release, “state health officials will work with Oregon Department of Education (ODE) officials to revise guidance to ensure schools can continue operating safely and keep students in class once the school mask requirements are lifted.”
In a Feb. 24 press release, the OHA amended the date and announced that the indoor masking requirement will be lifted on March 19, as “hospitalizations drop and are projected to reach levels below those at the start of the Omicron surge.”
According to the OHA press release, school districts around Oregon provided feedback that “indicated that preparations for the transition could be completed earlier” than the original March 31 date. The press release references “A recent modeling report by Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU)” predicting that Oregon would meet the 400 or fewer people hospitalized with COVID-19 expectation “around March 20.”
“The March 19 date continues to give local communities time to prepare for the transition, and it allows district and school leaders to take necessary actions to ensure students can safely remain in their classrooms,” said the Feb. 24 press release.
“The Oregon Department of Education is collaborating with the OHA around things such as quarantine, contact tracing, test to stay, all of those things that we’ve currently been doing, and how those would look post-universal masking,” said Bernal, “When we get those updates, then we’ll need to update our continuity of in-person learning and services plan … the updates to that will be due on March 30 unless they move that up to align with the March 19 date.”
While the indoor masking rule is lifting, the OHA continues to recommend masking for individuals who are at an increased risk for severe COVID-19 related illness, even after the requirements are lifted, stating in the Feb. 24 press release that “state officials also continue to strongly recommend universal masking in K-12 settings where children are required to attend,” as “those settings bring together vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals, as well as individuals who are at higher risk for severe COVID-19 illness.”
In the school board meeting, Board Chair Jose Aparicio commented that, while masking rules for the state may be lifting, NWCSD still has other mitigations in place to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 inside school buildings. “(Masking) is one of the many layers that we have in our buildings,” said Aparicio. “Even with the masking no longer being required, there’s still other elements that we’ll have in place in our buildings … for those that may be, you know, anxious or nervous about that, there will still be other elements of that layering in our buildings to make sure the kiddos are able to … remain in our buildings.”
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