Boston Schools To Stop Requiring Masks Starting Monday

BOSTON — Students and staff at Boston Public Schools will no longer be required to wear face masks while at school starting next week, a letter from the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) said Wednesday.

The move is based on a sustained downward trend in COVID-19 cases at Boston Public Schools, and comes three months after Boston voted to end its citywide indoor mask mandate. At the time, the BPHC recommended a threshold for when it would relax its school masking policies.

Massachusetts dropped its statewide mask mandate at the end of February, leaving the decision whether to require masks up to each district. Boston was one of the last school districts holding onto its mandate. To date, Amherst-Pelham is the only MA school district still requiring masking.

The BPHC's Wednesday letter says indoor masking is still an "important strategy" for slowing the spread of COVID-19. Masks will still be required in some instances at Boston schools, including in school health offices.

The policy change takes effect Monday, June 13, just two weeks before the last day of school for BPS students.