Masks in schools likely returning to Fayetteville

Letter says cases near limit for full mandate in district

FAYETTEVILLE — Masks likely will be required at all of the School District’s campuses when classes resume Thursday.

Superintendent John L Colbert sent a letter to parents Monday saying administrators anticipate meeting the threshold triggering mask-wearing district-wide.

The district began the school year with a full mask mandate for students and staff.

In October, the School Board changed the district’s policy to encourage, but not require, masks for all students and staff, effective Dec. 23. Visitors to all district buildings were still required to wear masks.

Board members at the time set a policy that masks would stay optional as long as covid-19 cases stayed below 30 per 10,000 residents within the School District, as determined by the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement. If cases exceeded the threshold for a consecutive 14-day period, the mask mandate would automatically be reinstated.

Last week, the center reported 33 cases per 10,000 residents within the district, Colbert said in his letter. Administrators anticipate this week’s number could again exceed that threshold, he said.

“Please begin to prepare your child for the possibility that masks will be required upon their return to school,” Colbert said.

The newest number from the center could come today, a district spokesman said.

Administrators will provide the latest information to parents regarding quarantining and other covid-19 policies relating to schools after consulting with the state departments of health and education, Colbert said in the letter.

Fayetteville is the fourth-largest school district in Northwest Arkansas with about 10,300 students.

The region’s three largest districts — Springdale, Bentonville and Rogers — also started this school year with mask mandates. Springdale ended its mandate in September. Rogers made masks optional for all students starting Oct. 8.

Bentonville is appealing a judge’s decision that it doesn’t have the authority to mandate masks in school buildings. Benton County Circuit Judge Xollie Duncan on Oct. 6 granted an injunction to prohibit the Bentonville district from enforcing its mask mandate. She issued her ruling in a case where three parents had sued the district.

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox ruled last week the state Legislature’s ban on mask mandates imposed by government agencies and public schools is unconstitutional.

Act 1002 of 2021 prohibited state and local governments, including public school districts, from mandating that individuals wear masks during the coronavirus pandemic.

However, the Bentonville district still may not require face masks in accordance with Duncan’s ruling, said Leslee Wright, the district’s communications director.

The Bentonville School Board decided in September — before Duncan’s ruling — that students and staff would be required to continue wearing masks until reports of new, known covid-19 infections over a 14-day period dropped below 30 per 10,000 district residents.

The district’s rate as of Dec. 27 was between 30 and 49 infections per 10,000 people, according to the Center for Health Improvement’s website.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced Tuesday the state recorded a new, single-day high of 6,562 new cases of covid-19, far surpassing the previous record of 4,978, which was reported Thursday.