The Jefferson Parish School District is dropping the mask mandate effective Monday. The district released a statement citing the new availability of vaccines for students as young as five years old as the driving force behind the policy change.
The statement said “Face masks will be strongly encouraged, not mandated, for employees and students while indoors and in close proximity to others. This aligns with the option Governor Edwards and the Louisiana Department of Health announced for school systems last week.” The policy applies to both students and staff on JP campuses.
Superintendent Dr. James Gray weighed in on the new policy.
“We’re the largest school system in the state and one of the largest employers in the parish. We owe it to our 49,000 children and 6,400 employees to do our due diligence on any decision of this magnitude.”
JP Schools were allowed to drop the mandate under a relatively new policy offer from Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards that lets school systems that maintain the CDC quarantining policy to remove the school mask mandate.
"Quarantine for close contacts who are not vaccinated will be 10-14 days. Close contacts who are fully vaccinated and showing no symptoms are not required to quarantine. Close contacts who are vaccinated and have symptoms must quarantine for 10-14 days. This update continues to meet recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)."
Students will still be required to mask up while on the bus, per federal regulations.
Orleans Parish students will still be required to mask.
