Mask-Optional Policy Up For Vote In New Hope-Solebury School District

NEW HOPE, PA — The New Hope-Solebury Board of School Directors will meet Thursday night to vote on the school district's COVID-19 health and safety plan.

If approved, modifications to the COVID-19 plan would go into effect March 7.

Those modifications include a change from New Hope-Solebury's to a mask-optional policy.

Acknowledging that the Centers for Disease Control and Pennsylvania Department of Health still recommend indoor masking, the plan reads, "However, the New Hope-Solebury School District will progress to a mask optional policy on March 7, 2022, allowing students and staff to wear masks indoors as desired until further notice and will revisit this decision when/if the CDC modifies its recommendations."

"This decision is made based on the significant decline in the number of COVID cases in the county and specifically in the New Hope-Solebury community," the plan reads.

The Bucks County COVID-19 positivity rate had dropped to 6.6 percent as of last week, according to the new Bucks County Department of Health numbers. For comparison, the positivity rate was 32.3 percent in January.

The school district could also return to indoor masking if the local caseload changes, the plan stipulates.

Changes to contact tracing procedures are also in order for the school district, should the new plan pass. As of March 7, the district would "no longer be engaged in case investigation" and "no longer notify close contacts of any positive case" — but will still keep people informed about new cases at the classroom and building level.

The district would also continue to report positive COVID-19 cases to the county health department.

The school district's nine-person board will vote on the new plan at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the Upper Elementary School Cafeteria. Attendees can also watch via Zoom.

The full agenda for Thursday night's meeting is available here.

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