Please read the letter below from the Augusta County School Board. Thank you.
January 20, 2022
Good Evening, ACPS Families and Employees,
At their annual school board retreat today, the Augusta County School Board voted to continue to require all students, staff and visitors to wear masks in schools until Monday, February 14, 2022 to allow additional time for the virus to trend down. As part of the motion to make masks optional effective February 14, 2022, the School Board also voted to reserve the option to reevaluate this action at any time based on pending legal challenges and any negative trends related to our local area health concerns. Federal regulation, however, still requires masks to be worn on public transportation, which includes school buses. This requirement will remain in effect until further notice.
The School Board also voted to follow the CDC’s shortened timeline for COVID-positive individuals or those who are exposed to a COVID-positive individual from ten (10) days to five (5) days of isolation/quarantine, provided the individual is asymptomatic, followed by five (5) days of mask-wearing to minimize the risk of infecting others. This change also goes into effect Monday, February 14, 2022.
The School Board will continue to discuss Covid-19 mitigation strategies at their next regularly scheduled meeting on Thursday, February 3, 2022. We will communicate updates on these important discussions and will notify parents and guardians of any future changes to our current mitigation strategies regarding face coverings.
The health and safety of our students, staff members, and school communities is our top priority. In addition to universal masking, we also consider hand washing, social distancing, contact tracing, isolation and quarantine, and daily health screening to be important measures in preventing the spread of Covid-19 in our schools and communities. The support and cooperation that you have shown this year have been instrumental in keeping our schools safe and have positively impacted our ability to provide full-time in-person learning opportunities for students.
Again, ACPS will continue to require all students, staff and visitors to wear masks in schools until February 14, 2022, at which time the School Board intends to implement a mask-optional policy. Masking on school buses, however, will remain in effect until further notice.
Thank you for all that you do to support teaching and learning in Augusta County Public Schools.
Respectfully,
The Augusta County School Board
Nicholas T. Collins
David R. Shiflett, Chairman
Timothy M. Simmons
Tim Z. Swortzel
John M. Ward
Donna H. Wells, Vice Chair