ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — The Rockwood School District is planning to vote on whether masks should be optional for students in the district beginning next semester.
On Monday, the district sent a letter to families with details of the proposed update to its Rockwood Safe Together plan. The proposed changes include:
- Masks being recommended at all Rockwood buildings beginning Jan. 3, which is the first day back from winter break.
- Allowing healthy students who are deemed close contacts to remain in school.
- Ending building-wide notification of a positive COVID-19 case. Close contacts of a positive case would still be notified.
Students will still be required to wear masks on school buses per federal requirements, Rockwood stated.
Under the proposed changes, buildings would return to a mask requirement for two weeks if the building has a 4% or more positivity rate.
“We have examined this update from every level and carefully considered the impact on our students and staff,” said Rockwood Superintendent Tim Ricker. “The consensus has been that this updated plan is a practical and responsible approach to continue to mitigate the pandemic in our buildings while keeping healthy students and staff in school.”
Back in August, the district made the decision to require all students, visitors and staff to wear masks while indoors.
Rockwood is set to vote on the proposed changes at the Board of Education meeting on Thursday, Dec. 16.
Monday night, the Kirkwood School Board recommended extending its mask requirement through next semester. The school board will hold a final vote on that next month.
The vote comes as Rockwood district officials have been at odds with Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt.
Last week, Schmitt sent letters to public schools and health departments across the state demanding they stop enforcing public health orders, like mask mandates and quarantines, following a judge’s ruling that called them illegal.
Schmitt said school districts don’t have the authority to issue their own health orders, but Ricker disagreed, citing guidance from Rockwood’s attorneys.
Rockwood school officials told parents before Schmitt’s letter that they were working on modifying the mask policy.