West Columbia, SC 10/22/2021 - Lexington School District Two’s temporary emergency mask requirement currently in effect for students, staff and visitors will be allowed to expire on October 31.
The decision was made by Lexington Two’s Board of Trustees at its monthly meeting on October 19.
The board put the temporary mask requirement into place during a September 2 meeting, to run September 3-October 31, amid an escalating number of COVID-19 positive and quarantine cases at the time among students and staff.
On the day before the board approved the temporary mask requirement in September, there were a total of 189 active positive students and 1,486 quarantined students, based on a population of 8,700-plus students. At that time there were also four schools and a number of classrooms in remote learning due to the high quarantine numbers.
By the end of the day October 19, there were a total of seven active positive students and 64 quarantined students. All schools have continued to be in session and no schools moved to remote learning in over a month.
While the current mask requirement will expire, Superintendent Dr. Nicolas Wade told board members at the October 19 meeting that it may be necessary to revisit the issue in the future, should COVID positives and quarantines spike again.
Until the temporary requirement expires on October 31, students, staff and visitors will still be required to wear a mask, barring an approved medical exemption, while on district property, on district transportation or while attending a district-related activity or event, regardless of vaccination status. It should be noted that, even with the expiration, masks will still be required for school bus riders, in keeping with a federal health requirement.
