Southwest Illinois schools are setting mask policies for the fall. Here’s where they stand

Schools in the metro-east are sharing their return-to-learn plans for the fall.

Here’s what we know so far about the guidance that local school boards have received:

• In a nonbinding resolution, the Madison County Board of Health on July 21 recommended all districts in the county adopt mask-optional policies in the fall.
• Federal guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gives local boards control to make decisions based on conditions in their communities. Schools have far more freedom in developing their plans than last year, when masking and social distancing were required by the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Illinois State Board of Education. The CDC does, however, recommend everyone in schools where masks in the latest guidance announced July 27.
  
  
• Public school districts cannot require students get vaccinated. The vaccines required for schools are determined at the state level, and the CDC does not recommend requiring the COVID-19 vaccine. Many students are not eligible for the vaccine because they are under 12 years old. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not reviewed data from clinical trials in children younger than 12 to determine whether the vaccine is safe for them to take like it has for adolescents and adults.

Here’s what the face mask policies will be for metro-east school districts in the coming school year:

• As of July 26, Collinsville District 10 recommends masks and will require them sometimes, including when students cannot stay at least 3 feet apart. There will also be classrooms available for immunocompromised students and teachers if they want to learn and work in an environment where everyone keeps their masks on.

• As of July 26, Triad Unit 2 recommends masks and will require them sometimes, including when students are in close contact for projects or assignments. It will also offer K-6 classrooms where everyone is masked for parents who want that option.
  
  
• As of July 26, Harmony-Emge District 175 recommends masks and will require them sometimes, including when entering the school and in “common areas” like hallways, restrooms, food lines and other places where it is difficult to stay at least 3 feet apart.
• As of July 20, Belleville District 118 planned to “strongly encourage” masks, according to the draft of a return-to-learn plan. Superintendent Ryan Boike stopped short of saying the district was going to be “mask optional.”
• As of July 15, Freeburg High School recommends masks, but they are optional.
• As of July 11, Highland District 5 recommends masks, but they are optional.

• Edwardsville District 7 will share its plan Aug. 4. Parents were split on masks when addressing the school board July 19.

• O’Fallon Township High School District 203 will vote on its plan Aug. 5. A July 12 message to parents indicated that the district planned to make masks recommended but optional.

Local district officials note that their plans are subject to changes as the situation with the coronavirus evolves. Masks are always required on school buses.

This story was originally published July 16, 2021 at 3:04 PM.