Two of the Twin Lakes Area’s school districts are no longer mandating that students wear face masks.The Cotter School Board voted Thursday night to eliminate the district’s mask requirement. It joins the Flippin School District as area schools no longer requiring students to wear masks.
Cotter Superintendent Vanessa Thomas-Jones explains the school board’s process leading up to Thursday’s decision:
Listen:
Arkansas school boards had until Thursday to decide on whether to require students and staff to wear masks through the end of the school year. Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced on March 30 that he was lifting the statewide mask mandate for virtually all public places, replacing it instead with guidance that masks should be worn but would not be required.
Flippin Superintendent Kelvin Hudson says his district is following the governor’s mask guidelines.
“We’re encouraging people to wear a mask, but we’re not requiring it,” he says.
Cotter students are still welcome to wear a mask if they so desire, Thomas-Jones says.
Listen:
The Cotter District will strongly recommend the use of masks when physical distancing cannot be maintained and will continue to keep other mitigation procedures in place like disinfecting all areas of the campus, observing physical distancing, following COVID-19 quarantine guidelines, performing temperature checks and limiting the number of visitors to the campus.
The Mountain Home School District, the Yellville-Summit School District and the Norfork School District all say that they will require students to wear masks through the end of the school year.
“At this point, we’re going to continue with the masks until the end of the year or until further notice, Mountain Home Superintendent Dr. Jake Long said.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI