ROGERS -- Masks will be optional for all school district students and staff beginning today, according to a letter emailed Thursday to district families.
"The Rogers School District reached the data point authorized by the board to make masks optional for the lower grades as directed at the Sept. 21 board meeting," said Ashley Siwiec, district communications director.
The School Board voted Sept. 21 to require masks for prekindergarten through sixth-grade staff and students and to make masks optional for everyone in grades seven and above.
The revision to the mandate was made with the contingency mask requirements would be lifted if the district met specific covid-19 infection rate parameters, according to the policy.
The board approved allowing Superintendent Marlin Berry to lift the mask requirement if positive cases of covid-19 for the district fell below 30 infections per 10,000 district residents over a 14-day period, according to the policy.
The Arkansas Center for Health Improvement covid-19 dashboard notes infections in the district have reached the required levels for Berry to lift the mandate.
The district had 30-49 cases of covid-19 per 10,000 residents as of the Sept. 21 board meeting, said Charles Lee, assistant superintendent.
"I'm just encouraged with the potential decline in active cases that we've seen throughout our school district and the communities that we serve," said Nathan Gairhan, school board president.
Kara Bruce, parent of a Rogers School District first-grader, said she's grateful the mask requirement has been lifted.
"I'm excited for our children to have the opportunity to go without the mask. I'm excited for parents to be able to make that choice, because it is really a parenting issue," Bruce said, adding the health of students is the responsibility of parents, rather than the school board.
The board voted Aug. 12 at a special meeting to approve a temporary requirement to wear masks indoors and on district transportation for staff and students in all grade levels.
Face coverings continue to be strongly encouraged as a health precaution in school buildings, according to the letter.
Berry couldn't say whether the mask requirement would be implemented again if the number of covid-19 cases in the district rises.
"That was not covered in the board's actions, so I don't have an answer for that," he said.
Gairhan said he anticipates further mask discussions at the board's Oct. 19 meeting.
"I'm sure we'll be continuing to review the latest data to see where the district is in regards to covid cases," he said. "We'll just continue to monitor it moving forward."
Rogers' decision comes one day after Benton County Circuit Judge Xollie Duncan granted an injunction against the mandatory mask policy sought by parents who sued the Bentonville School District. Duncan's ruling prohibits Bentonville from enforcing its mandate, which had been in effect since the school year started Aug. 16. The ruling applied only to Bentonville, according to an attorney who represented the plaintiffs.