SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) - District 186 has voted to require students, staff and visitors to wear masks in the upcoming school year.
This decision came in a 7-0 Monday night vote.
Superintendent Jennifer Gill said she made the decision to revise the district's original Return to Learn plan following guidance she received at 11:30 a.m. Monday. She said she knows not everyone will be happy, but stressed facts are being used to make choices.
"As our community hopefully and prayerfully gets better with this new variant and the spread, that we'll be able to ease back those mitigations this school year - hopefully sooner than later," Gill said.
Leaders previously planned to have students at pre-K, elementary and middle school levels who could not get vaccinated have masks on through the school day. A draft Return to Learn plan would have had middle and school students be required to wear masks if they were not vaccinated. Students 12 and older who were vaccinated would not have needed to wear masks in that version.
A full Return to Learn plan was adopted by the school board. Full details of that plan have not yet been released.
More to come.
