Madison County Schools extend mask-wearing another 14 days
The Madison County Schools officials are extending mandatory mask-wearing on all campuses for faculty and students for another 14 days, school officials announced in a letter Wednesday afternoon.
“While the delta variant is certainly impacting our state and community, we believe that continued efforts to wash hands, watch distance, and wear masks will give us the best chance of keeping schools open and students in class,” states Charlotte A. Seals, superintendent of Madison County Schools in the Wednesday letter. “To this end, the Madison County Board of Education has decided to continue COVID-19 Protocol Level 3 for an additional 14 calendar days after which time the Board will reevaluate depending on circumstances in our area.”
The schools initially announced that masks would be required on the first full day for all students Aug. 13 as school officials moved to Protocol Level 3 for 14 days after a mask optional Protocol Level 2 soft start Aug.10-12 with only half of students attending schools each day.
“Our goal in transitioning to COVID-19 Protocol Level 3 nearly two weeks ago was to enable in-class instruction to continue by doing all that we can to stop the spread of illness,” Seals states in Wednesday’s letter. “As you know, this level requires masks to be worn by students, staff and all people inside our school buildings.”
The Madison County Schools district is operating under a COVID-19 protocol system with Levels 1 through 3. Under Levels 1 and 2 masks are optional for all faculty and students (PreK-12) regardless of vaccination status.
Level 3 states that “all faculty and students (PreK-12) regardless of vaccination status, will wear masks at all times practicable while indoors and on buses.”
After the extension, the COVID-19 Protocol Level 3 will be in place for 14 more calendar days, after which the district will reevaluate.
“Our COVID-19 Protocols are designed to respond to a variety of different needs and concerns in our schools,” Seals letter states. “We are pleased that the Mississippi Department of Education has added hybrid learning to available learning model options for schools to employ. While hybrid learning is a valuable tool for certain situations, at this time we feel strongly that staying on campus to the extent possible is the best course of action for our schools. I encourage you to visit our website to familiarize yourself with our Covid protocol levels.
“We are hopeful that by working together to stop the spread of COVID-19 we can provide our students with as normal a school year as possible with opportunities for in-person academics, arts, and athletics. Once again, I encourage you to take advantage of vaccination for yourself and your child, if eligible. Thank you for coming together as a community to help our students stay in school.”
The school district on Aug. 23 posted COVID-19 statistics from within the district for the week of Aug. 16 that showed the district had 91 active COVID-19 cases for an 0.63% of the population with active cases and 382 students quarantined.
For more information, refer to the MCS Reentry Guidelines on the district’s website at www.madison-schools.com.