Masks Optional In Central Bucks Next School Year

DOYLESTOWN, PA — Following advice from Bucks County Health Director David Damsker, students in the Central Bucks School District will not be required to wear masks during the 2021-2022 school year.

In a letter to students and families in the district, Acting Superintendent Abram Lucabaugh said that masking will be optional for both students and staff in schools and on buses, regardless of vaccination status. The district is not requiring proof of vaccination.

"Over the past few weeks, we have received emails from parents anxious to learn more about our plans for reopening schools on August 30, 2021," Lucabaugh wrote. "As indicated prior to the close of school in June, our intention is to reopen with full-day, in-person education, including regular lunch and academic bell schedules, extracurricular activities, and sports, as was the case prior to COVID."

While a mask mandate expired in late June, the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control are still recommending that unvaccinated people — including young children who are less likely to contract or get seriously ill from the COVID-19 — wear masks in public settings.

During a heated school board meeting on June 3, the Central Bucks School Board voted 4-3 to make masks optional for the final week of the school year. The special meeting was scheduled just days after the board voted in new leadership, ousting Suits as president and Smith as vice president. Prior to hearing two hours of public comments, the board heard from Bucks County Public Health Director David Damsker, who said that the mask mandate was no longer needed due to sharply declining levels of COVID-19 cases in Bucks County.

"Given the epidemiology of where we are today, I think masks should be optional going forward," Damsker said at the meeting. "I wouldn't have said that to you in April."

Damsker has advocated that all Bucks County residents get the COVID-19 vaccine.

The district's health and safety plan, which is available for feedback, will be up for consideration at the upcoming July 27 school board meeting. The plan must be submitted to the Pennsylvania Department of Education by July 31.

The board will also discuss the feasibility of an elementary virtual option for families who indicated an interest in a recent survey. There will be no virtual option for secondary students due to the availability of a COVID-19 vaccine for students ages 12 and older, the district said in previous communications.

Nearly 62 percent of Pennsylvania adults are fully vaccinated as of Tuesday morning, according to the Department of Health. There are 260 people hospitalized with COVID-19, and of that number, 50 patients are in the intensive care unit.

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