KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Shawnee Mission School District Board of Education voted 6-0 to adopt universal masking within their school buildings through Feb. 15.
"The change was made in light of the state and county health departments announcing they would suspend contact tracing for 30 days," the district said in its recap of the meeting. "The three percent threshold for secondary schools built into the district’s plan was dependent on contact tracing by the county health department (the school district does not have legal authority to contact trace or quarantine.)"
That means all students, teachers and visitors will be required to wear a mask inside school buildings for at least the next three weeks.
"The Board also discussed the extremely high number of infections in the county and the uptick of cases in SMSD schools," the district said in the recap. "District staff will continue to monitor data, and either return to the three percent threshold on February 15, 2022, assuming the county has resumed, or recommend another extension."
Any additional extension of a mask mandate will depend on the situation in the wider community and in schools at that time.
"As a reminder it continues to be a priority in the Shawnee Mission School District to keep students and staff safe and in school," the district said.
—
We want to hear from you on what resources Kansas City families might benefit from to help us all through the pandemic. If you have five minutes, feel free to fill out this survey to help guide our coverage: KSHB COVID Survey.
