FREDERICKTOWN — Fredericktown Locals Schools announced Tuesday it would begin mandating masks indoors for students, effective Sept. 1.
“Last year was a successful year because we were in school every day, five days a week, wearing face masks, social distancing, using good hygiene practices, and providing vaccination opportunities for staff,” superintendent Susan Hayward wrote in a message announcing the mandate on the district website Tuesday. “Our 2020-2021 student quarantines were primarily from lunch and extracurricular activities when students were not masked.”
Masks had previously been optional for Fredericktown students.
“Since the first day of school, we have had 24 students and staff test positive and 157 students quarantined,” Hayward wrote. “We currently have 15 student and staff positive cases and 85 students quarantined.”
At the start of the year, masks had also been optional for staff, but the district began mandating masks for all staff, regardless of vaccination status, on Monday.
The risk of a substitute teacher shortage led to the staff mandate.
“The trending data of our staff absences would have led to a potential sub shortage,” superintendent Susan Hayward wrote in an email to Knox Pages Tuesday. “Many staff were already voluntarily wearing masks so they wouldn’t be quarantined and away from supporting the education of our students.”
Fredericktown’s school board voted to approve the updated mask policy — NEOLA Policy 8450.01 Protective Facial Coverings During Pandemic/Epidemic Events — during a special meeting Tuesday.
There was no discussion among board members during the meeting.
One community member participated during Tuesday’s meeting, Danielle Vail, a parent of two Fredericktown students and a nurse practitioner.
Vail spoke against the implementation of a mask mandate for students. Instead of a mask mandate, Vail suggested assigned seats to reduce contact between students and separating desks by at least three feet.
Fredericktown is the second school district in Knox County to reverse its initial mask-optional policy since the school year began. East Knox began mandating masks on the fourth day of the school year following positive cases and subsequent quarantines.
Two Knox County elementary schools are also mandating masks for students indoors. Danville Elementary implemented a mask mandate Monday, and Wiggin Street Elementary began the year with a mask mandate because of a Gambier ordinance mandating mask-wearing inside public places within the village.
