WENTZVILLE, Mo. — All students will be required to wear a mask at Duello Elementary School after an emergency meeting Thursday night.
The Wentzville School District meeting, which was streamed on the district's YouTube channel, was held after at least 46 of the school's 658 students tested positive for COVID-19. The district leaders voted to implement a mask mandate only at that school, effective immediately.
Under the new rule, all students, faculty and staff must wear masks while inside the school building for the next 30 days.
In addition to the Duello mask mandate, the district voted to partner with the St. Charles County Department of Public Health for contact tracing.
They also voted in favor of a mask mandate in all district buildings where the positivity rate is above 2%. They said that rule will be revisited at the next regularly scheduled board meeting, which will be held on Friday, Sept. 17.
According to district data, Duello was the only school over the 2% positivity rate threshold at 6.53%. Wabash Elementary School was the next highest at 1.72%.
A school district in Lincoln County made a similar decision this week. Elsberry Superintendent Tim Reller announced a mask mandate for all schools in the district, effective next week.
Reller said the district has 14 positive COVID cases, but roughly 25% of the district's 800 students are in quarantine.
"We have a lot of students missing school because of close contact,” said Reller.
He said online learning isn’t an option in the rural district, and the move to masks was an attempt to keep students in the classroom.