HOULTON, Maine — Masks will be optional for students in the upcoming school year, but will be required on school buses and other forms of school transportation, RSU 29 superintendent Richard Lyons announced at the district’s school board meeting on Monday, Aug. 2.
Lyons recommended the board to approve the motion, which was passed unanimously. The move to make masks optional is consistent with other Aroostook County school districts which have already made a ruling on masks. The requirement to wear masks on school buses comes from a federal mandate by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The rule to make masks optional applies to both students and school staff members. Lyons also said that the Maine Department of Education would begin compiling vaccination data from staff beginning in September, the data of which will be made public.
“Every month you’ll see a percentage of vaccinations,” Lyons said. “I’m not sure if we’re going to see it by school district, but certainly by county. So that’s a new protocol coming into place as well.”
The rise in COVID-19 cases has led the CDC to recommend wearing masks indoors, even if fully vaccinated, in areas where there is substantial or high transmission of the virus. Aroostook County currently does not fall under that category. Lyons acknowledged that masks rulings could potentially shift if cases continue to grow and state mandates change.
“The ebbs and flows of this could change on a dime,” Lyons said. “Nevertheless, we want to give advance notice to parents about what we know. So just know that that has a continuation. Hopefully it doesn’t turn into a negative one, but that’s what the landscape is currently.”
In addition to discussions on mask policy, Lyons also announced that the school was looking to install a sprinkler system in RSU 29’s elementary school. The decision to do so was influenced by the recent fire at the Dr. Levesque Elementary School in Frenchville, which did not have a sprinkler system to help put out the blaze.
