Mask mandate to be lifted next week at DCS
On Monday, February 14, the Davidson County Schools (DCS) Board of Education (BOE) held a special called meeting at their central office in Lexington. The board provided a Vimeo live stream link for viewing.
The topic of discussion were policies 4.36 and 6.49, the wearing of face coverings during the pandemic. Chairman Alan Beck opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance, and a moment of silence. Afterwards, the board went into a brief closed session. Upon returning to open session, Superintendent Dr. Emily Lipe discussed the decline of confirmed positive cases in DCS. At this time, the positivity rate for staff is 0.5 percent and students .003 percent.
Lipe explained on Thursday, February 10, the StrongSchoolsNC Public Health Toolkit announced their updated COVID-19 guidelines. Contact tracing for asymptomatic exposure cases no longer are required to quarantine or be excluded. If someone tests positive, regardless of symptoms, they would be required to be quarantined for five days, returning to school on day six, and would be required to wear a mask for 10 days.
Based on the new guidelines, and the decrease of cases, Lipe recommended optional masking while continuing to monitor the numbers closely. With a motion made, the board voted and unanimously agreed to lift the mask mandate for students and staff effective February 21.
Board member Ashley Carroll shared her appreciation to the board offering, “I am so very proud of this board. We fought hard back in 2020 to get our students back, and we were one of the first school districts to do so. We never lost sight of the finish line and our goal of keeping them in school face to face.” Beck pleaded with parents, “Please use common sense. If your kids are ill, don't send them to school.”
After the meeting, when asked for clarification on the reason the changes would not be made immediately, Carroll explained the toolkit states these updates will be effective on 2/21/22, and they have adhered to the toolkit thus far, and feel it’s best to continue doing so.
The next DCS board meeting is scheduled for March 7, 6:30 PM at Stoner-Thomas School.
