Fox Chapel Area modifies proposed mask plan to include all students
A vote on Monday night by the Fox Chapel Area School Board will determine whether students of all ages will be required to wear masks when school returns Aug. 24.
The board is expected to vote on the district’s health and safety plan during a meeting at 7 p.m.
The proposal is one that already has changed significantly since last week.
As of Aug. 8, Superintendent Mary Catherine Reljac updated the current draft of the plan to require masks for all students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade while indoors.
Teachers and staff would also wear masks if the plan is approved.
The board last week spent more than three hours during its agenda meeting hearing from parents who sought mask-wearing to be required and others who asked for mask choice.
As proposed on Aug. 2, the board was to vote on a plan that would require face coverings for elementary-aged children largely because vaccinations are not yet available for people younger than 12.
The board agreed last week to move forward with a vote to require masks for students up to sixth grade.
Other students would be strongly encouraged to wear them.
But Reljac said at that time that guidelines could shift quickly amid the evolving covid-19 rates in Allegheny County.
On Aug. 2, Allegheny County moved into the substantial level of transmission.
The average weekly number of covid-19 hospitalizations in the county nearly doubled over the past month, according to state Department of Health data.
If the school board approves the back-to-school plan, students and staff will be able to remove their masks while eating or socially distanced.
Masks are required by the CDC to be worn on all district transportation.
As proposed, the district will be open for five-day-per-week, in-person instruction and will offer an online option as well. The digital option will be largely asynchronous.
Families are asked to complete a survey by Aug. 12 if they choose the online model.
Instructional model choices can be switched at the end of each nine-week grading period.
Tawnya Panizzi is a TribLive reporter. She joined the Trib in 1997. She can be reached at tpanizzi@triblive.com.
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