I have written many blogs this past year on the health and safety requirements for our students. Last Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated their mask guidance for schools. In this update, they stated that:

• Vaccinated teachers and students no longer must wear masks inside school buildings.
• Unvaccinated individuals including young children should still wear masks and maintain three feet social distancing. Currently, children twelve and under are unable to be vaccinated.

Despite the new guidance, some states including Rhode Island, Iowa and Texas have dropped mask mandates, while others like California are continuing to require masks for the 2021-22 school year. Other states, such as Oregon, New Jersey, and Connecticut, are allowing individual school districts to determine whether students and staff are to wear masks.

At the Elizabeth Lee Black School, we are maintaining our current position on mask wearing and social distancing as we await further guidance from the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE). This means that all students and staff will continue to wear masks and maintain six feet social distance as outlined in our Health and Safety Plan. Furthermore, we still require daily temperature checks of our staff and continue to ask parents to check their child’s temperature each morning.

The health and safety of our students, their families, and our staff are paramount as we continue our Extended School Year programming and begin planning for the 2021-22 school year.