Mask mandate now optional at RV

Face masks are now optional at Royal Valley schools following a 4-3 vote during the RV Board of Education’s retreat last week. The new policy took effect on June 7.

At the board’s retreat on Wednesday, June 2, at RVHS in Hoyt, board member Ann Kelly made a motion to make the district’s face covering policy optional inside and outside of school buildings with the option of reinstating the mask requirement if COVID-19 cases in the community increase.

Kelly and board members Linda Hegemann, Pat Tuck and Cindy Broxterman voted in favor of the optional mask policy. Members Boone Smith, Nathan McAlister and Adele Wahwassuck voted against.

“We’re going to see what happens if we go this direction,” Superintendent Aaric Davis said of the new policy. “If things start to come back up, we can look at it again. We want the community to be aware that we may not be done with masks.”

Davis said it’s difficult to have a “blanket policy” that applies to every situation in a school setting. 

“We’re going to see how things go,” he said. “I do think masks are effective.”

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