Park Hill School District votes to reinstate mask mandate amid COVID-19 surge
The Park Hill School District voted on Friday to bring back its mask mandate, making it the latest Kansas City area school district to reinstate a mandate amid a rise of COVID-19 cases.
The school board voted 6-1 in a special meeting. The mandate, which requires masks be worn inside all school district facilities, begins Jan. 9 and is scheduled to end Feb. 3.
“Our numbers are really high because the omicron variant is highly transmissible,” Tammy Saylor, director of health services for the district, told the board.
Last month, the district announced that it was lifting its mask mandate and that masking wouldn’t be required beginning in January.
Saylor presented data to the school board showing that there had been 352 COVID-19 cases since Monday. The previous high for cases was 118, which had been set the previous week.
“Our health rooms have been very busy this week because we’re seeing a lot of sick kiddos in our health rooms,” she said.
The rise in cases in the school district reflects the surge felt throughout the metro area. Hospitals are overwhelmed and COVID-19 tests are in high demand.
Park Hill is just the latest place to bring back a mask mandate.
North Kansas City extended its order requiring masks be worn in schools within the city’s limits on Tuesday.
“In-person education is critical to our students and I believe masking in one mitigation measure we can take to keep our schools open,” said Mayor Bryant DeLong on Twitter.
On Thursday, Kansas City government leaders reinstated mandatory mask-wearing for all K-12 school, passing on a vote of 10-2. The mandate is scheduled to end Feb. 3.
The Lee’s Summit school board also voted Thursday to reinstate its mask mandate for the next four weeks, with board members voting 6-1 in favor of the measure.
Superintendent David Buck told board members that the district, mere days after returning fom winter break, was seeing a heightened caseload of students and teachers out of school for COVID-19 related reasons.
On Friday alone, the Kansas City metro added more than 4,000 new cases, according to data tracked by The Star.
