This Kansas City area school district is dropping mask requirement in the new year
Another Kansas City area school district has lifted its mask mandate.
Beginning in January, the Park Hill School District will no longer require that masks be worn in school to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, according to a district update Tuesday evening.
“Because children and adults now have the opportunity to be vaccinated, we will strongly encourage everyone to wear masks, but we will no longer enforce mask-wearing starting in January,” the announcement read.
Masks will still be required on school buses, in line with a federal regulation currently in place until March 18.
The district also encouraged anyone who is eligible for the vaccine to get it.
Also beginning in January, the Kansas City and Platte County health departments will again take over contact tracing for any Park Hill students or employees who test positive for COVID-19. Those who test positive must stay home for 10 days, beginning on the date of their positive test, or their first symptoms.
Staff and families will be told if there is a positive case in their building, or their child’s classroom. It will then be up to the health department to notify anyone who needs to quarantine.
Another change is that beginning in the new year, more outside visitors — specifically volunteers — will be allowed into the schools, according to the district.
Free coronavirus testing will still be available to students and staff.
The district on its website noted that COVID mitigation protocols may change as they continue to monitor local case data.
As of Tuesday, the seven-day rolling average of new COVID-19 cases across the metro area is around 844 per day, according to data tracked by the Star. That’s the highest rolling average recorded since January of this year.
This story was originally published December 22, 2021 at 7:19 AM.
