Windsor, Severance Schools Set To Remove Mask Mandate On Thursday

Let the mask debates roll on and continue after this announcement from the Weld RE4 School District late Monday.

The school board voted unanimously Monday night to change the district’s policy from masks required to masks recommended. That last word is a big one.

My son is currently a first-grader within the school district. According to an email that I received from the school district's office, officials stated that because of being effective in slowing the spread over the first half of the school year, the availability of vaccines for children 5-18 and readily available COVID-19 testing have changed the need for a requirement.

• If a single elementary classroom reaches five positive cases among students, the entire class must "quarantine" for 14 days, meaning they either must stay home or come to school in a mask.
• If a school or district building reaches a 5% positivity rate among all students, masks will be required for 14 days or until the positivity rate dips below 5%.
• Masks will still be required on school buses per federal law, and the board made clear that all students, staff and volunteers should have a mask with them and be prepared to mask up if necessary.

To truly see the difference in opinions and stances on many things, this mask mandate or lack thereof from one side of Interstate 25 to the other is truly intriguing to me. Pretty much at the same time, Weld RE4 made its statement, Poudre schools are in this situation ...

Whatever side of the fence you fall on, here's to hoping things improve, clear up and stay cleared up because, after about two years of dealing with this COVID-19 stuff, it's getting old.