New Kensington-Arnold School District makes face masks optional

Face masks are now optional in the New Kensington-Arnold School District.

At a school board meeting Tuesday night, Superintendent Chris Sefcheck said the change was effective immediately. The school board did not have to vote on the change, as it was already outlined in the district’s health and safety plan.

Face masks are also no longer required on buses, he said.

The change follows new guidelines released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday.

For most of the population where the coronavirus is posing a low or medium threat to hospitals, people can stop wearing masks. The CDC still advises that people, including students, wear masks where the risk of covid-19 is high.

Effective at the same time, the CDC said it was ending the requirement for masks on school buses or vans. The change was made to align with updated guidance that no longer recommends universal indoor mask-wearing in schools in areas with a low or medium level of covid, the agency said.

The community transmission level of covid is now rated as low in Westmoreland, Allegheny and Armstrong counties.

Sefcheck said New Kensington-Arnold’s decision was based on that low transmission level and the CDC guidelines.

“We felt the comfort level was there and other mitigation efforts were sufficient to continue with parental choice,” he said. “We appreciate our students and families that continued to mask and help us navigate the learning environment with no disruption of our educational programming. Sometimes the right decision isn’t always the most popular, and we are happy that we have made it this far with such high community support.”

According to the covid-19 dashboard on the district’s website, New Kensington-Arnold reported three positive covid cases among students for the week of Feb. 19-25, one each at H.D. Berkey and Roy A. Hunt elementary schools and at the high school. None were reported among adults.

For the school year, the district reported 171 positive cases among students and 55 among adults.

Sefcheck said district administration will monitor daily community transmission levels and reported cases as part of its planning process.

“If community transmission hits moderate or high, we will consider masking, in addition to seeing a spike in district numbers,” he said.