Masks Now Recommended But Not Required For Glen Ellyn District 89

GLEN ELLYN, IL — Three days after the Community School District 89 school board held an emergency meeting to consider changing the district’s COVID-19 mitigation plan, students and staff will no longer be required to wear face-coverings beginning on Tuesday.

Masks will now be recommended for students and staff, the district said, but masks will no longer be required as they were before Saturday’s meeting. The change came after district officials announced last week that just 0.3 percent of the student population had experienced a COVID-19 related absence by mid-February. The drop in virus-related absences comes less than a month after 10 percent of students had been absent due to the virus, the district reported.

The district reported it is now in low mitigation (yellow) status, a shift that district officials said last week led the board to consider changing its policy.

The 10 percent mark was the highest rate of absences the district had experienced, officials said last week. Parents met to rally on Saturday morning and pushed for the district to change its policy.

In addition to masks no longer being required, the update to the district mitigation planincludes changes to procedures dealing with close contacts, the district said. The district said that when a student or staff member is a close contact of someone who is positive for COVID-19, they will be notified.

The student’s family or the staff member will not be required to quarantine, although they will be allowed to do so if they choose. Rapid-antigen tests are available to families and staff at all five District 89 schools, the district announced on its website.

Students who are positive for COVID-19 or who have COVID-19 symptoms will still be required to stay home for five days, the district said. Students who tested positive for COVID-19 will be required to wear a mask on days 6 to 10, or stay home for 10 days.

This district will continue to have increased ventilation, frequent cleaning, and recommended hand sanitizing, officials said.

The approved plan allows for situational or required masking if there is a significant change in conditions, including a high number of student COVID-19 cases, community spread, vaccine availability, hospital-bed availability, and increased transmission rate.