BAY MINETTE – Masks will not be required in Baldwin County public schools as of Monday, Sept. 27, Baldwin County Superintendent of Education Eddie Tyler announced Friday afternoon.
Masks will continue to be required on buses, he said in a statement Sunday.
Tyler said COVID-19 numbers in schools and the community have continued to drop leading to the decision to no longer require mask.
“Starting Monday, we are removing the mandatory mask requirement and making it an optional choice for students and employees. I don't know if and when we will return to a requirement for masks but looking at the historical track of COVID, I would expect we might see such a necessity again in the winter,” Tyler said in a statement emailed to county parents.
He said that while mask requirements will be removed, school employees will continue the sanitization and other procedures in place to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
The change to optional use of masks will apply to all of school campuses and offices and will apply to students, faculty, employees and visitors.
“I want to say thank you to everybody for their cooperation. Most importantly, I want to say thank you to all of our teachers and employees across the system who have been working so hard to keep our system open and operating through these challenges,” Tyler said in the statement.
He urged parents and students to continue to take precautions against the spread of COVID-19.
“None of us want to have to return back to what we've just been through any time soon,” he said.
Tyler had during the summer break that masks would not be required at the start of the 2021-22 academic year. On July 29, Tyler ordered that all students older than 7 and all adults in schools wear masks when classes resumed Aug. 11.
Some parents objected to the requirement during a meeting held Aug. 19 to discuss masks.
