Red Lick, Bloomburg make masks optional
Bloomburg and Red Lick Independent School Districts announced on Monday that masking will be optional starting today, making them two of the first area school districts easing these restrictions.
“The BISD school board made the decision tonight to allow masks to be an optional requirement for staff and students starting Wednesday, March 10th,” according to a Bloomburg ISD Facebook post.
Red Lick Superintendent Brandon Dennard posted a statement on its district’s website, saying the board of trustees passed a resolution to make masking optional.
“The Red Lick Board of Trustees met on Monday and passed a resolution allowing masks to now be optional,” the statement reads. “All other policies and procedures related to COVID-19 will still be in place to keep our staff and students safe through the remainder of the school year. Again, ‘Thank You’ for your continued support and we look forward to seeing everyone’s smiling faces!”
The Gazette reached out to the districts for comment on these decisions, but got no response from the superintendents.
This move comes from school districts with a contrasting COVID case data over the course of the school year.
According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, Bloomburg’s total district enrollment as of Jan. 29 was 251 students, which ranks last among Cass County districts.
They also hold the lowest total student positivity rate among these districts, with approximately 3.59 % of students testing positive since the beginning of reporting periods by the DSHS.
Red Lick has 505 total students, and holds by far the highest positivity rate among Cass and Bowie districts, at around 7.4 %.
Most other local districts — Texarkana ISD, Pleasant Grove ISD, New Boston ISD, LibertyEylau ISD and many more — have decided to stick with previous protocol, which includes requiring masks on campus.
New Boston decided in a board meeting Tuesday afternoon that continuing previous policies would be for the best, after seeing the results of a faculty survey regarding the matter.
Board President Paula Turner said the safety of students and faculty was ultimately the deciding factor.
“I think safety’s the most important thing, and that’s our message to our staff, our families and kids,” Turner said. “If we’re making an error, we’re making an error on the side of safety. And I’d rather make an error on the side of safety and it not be quite right than make an error on the side of non-safety and it not be quite right.”