Masks Or No Masks? Solon Schools Plan For Future

SOLON, OH — Solon Schools leaders will evaluate the COVID-19 situation in the district in mid-January and will continue to mandate masks for students in the interim.

During Monday's Board of Education meeting, officials noted that COVID-19 cases spiked among the student body following Halloween. As expected, the majority of new cases were found among students in preschool through 6th grade.

"The confirmed cases in our district are overwhelmingly occurring in our student population that is just beginning to be vaccinated, so we will be continuing with our current indoor masking requirements at all schools," district officials said in a report to the board on Monday.

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While the district's masking policy will remain in place, there are plans to revisit the policy after students 5 and older have had time to get the vaccine.

"We believe it is in the best interest of students, families and the greater Solon/Glenwillow community to maintain our current masking protocols through the winter holidays," the district said. "Our experience shows that positive case counts are notably higher following the holidays."

Currently, the district plans to evaluate COVID-19 conditions in the district in the two weeks following winter break. If conditions are favorable, the district will no longer mandate students wear masks but will "strongly recommend" them.

"We have seen some schools in our area recently easing mask requirements only to have to reinstate them or even close a school building to stem a surge in cases. We believe consistency is important and that allowing time for families who choose to get their now-eligible younger students fully vaccinated will enable us to meet the mid-January goal," the district said.

Officials will continue to monitor COVID-19 within the district and in the Solon and Glenwillow communities.

"Each decision regarding our COVID-19 response has been made by balancing the mitigation tools available to us with the need to maximize our students’ in-person learning and participation in extracurricular activities. This next phase of our decision making, which includes a major planned shift in our mask requirements, will be undertaken in the same way," the district promised.