West Memphis School Board votes to make masks mandatory regardless of vaccination status

FILE – A student wears a face mask while doing work at his desk at the Post Road Elementary School, in White Plains, N.Y., in this Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020, file photo. U.S. health officials say the highly contagious delta version of the coronavirus is behind changes to mask guidelines. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week announced that fully vaccinated people should resume wearing masks indoors if they live in areas where the virus is surging. CDC officials said new information about the spread of the delta variant forced them to reverse course. The agency also said teachers and students everywhere should go back to wearing masks in schools. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, FIle)

by: WREG Web

Posted: Aug 10, 2021 / 09:32 PM AST

Updated: Aug 10, 2021 / 09:39 PM AST

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

WEST MEMPHIS, Ark. — West Memphis School Board voted late Tuesday night to make masks mandatory for all students and faculty regardless of vaccination status.

In a news release, the district outlined that all students in Pre-Kindergarten through the 12th grade will be required to wear a face covering regardless of vaccination status while attending school or a school function inside any school building, facility or other area of a school campus, and when riding in school-provided transportation.

Classes in West Memphis resume on Monday, August 16, and the resolution is effective from August 11, 2021 until the end of the 2021-2022 school year

Last week, an Arkansas judge temporarily blocked the state from enforcing a law that prevents schools and other governmental agencies from requiring masks.

Since opening, neighboring school district, Marion, is dealing with an outbreak with hundreds of students and faculty going into quarantine.

Here’s a full breakdown from West Memphis on the rules when students and faculty will be required to wear face masks.

Mask Mandate WMSD Download