South Pike students may have the option soon not to wear masks on campus.
The school district has had a mask mandate in place since the school year began, but head nurse Felicia Scott told the school board Thursday that COVID-19 infection rates in the district and statewide indicate it may be time to let students and staff choose whether to cover their faces.
“We’ve had no reports of COVID since spring break,” Scott said. “Community levels are low here. There are few schools in the state reporting many cases now. Going mask-optional is on the table for us.”
She noted that North Pike and a number of other districts have been mask-optional most, if not all, of this school year.
Scott suggested several possible dates for going mask-optional; April 19, when students return from Easter break; April 25, which would allow about a week of evaluation time to see if COVID-19 cases rise after Easter family gatherings; or May 2, to go maskless for the last month of school.
Superintendent Dr. Donna Scott said she had no objectons to lifting the mask mandate. “Our test was going back to the cafeteria (for eating meals), and we’ve had no cases,” she said.
Dr. Scott told board members that district administration could fix the date for the change without board action, and a decision will be announced soon. She said later Thursday that April 25 is the likely date, but she and other district staff will monitor infection rates to make sure removing the mask mandate is safe at that point.
Nurse Scott said district nurses are still doing random testing for COVID-19 among students whose parents granted permission for testing, and will continue to do so through the end of the year under a Mississippi State Department of Health program that will reimburse the district $42,000 for the cost of tests.
She also recommended that parents have their children from age 5 and older vaccinated to lessen the spread and the effects of COVID-19.
In other reports to the board, Osyka Elementary School principal Dr. Angela Lowery said students there had significantly improved their rates of grade-level learning during the year.
The latest diagnostic testing at the school showed big gains in the rates of grade-level learning achievement at almost every level.
Lowery said fifth grade is a concern there, because that grade has the largest number of students with individualized education plans, or IEPs, which are required for students with diagnosed learning disabilities or other special circumstances.
Some fifth-graders showed improvement to learning grade level in the middle of the year, but lost ground in that last round of diagnostics, she said.
At Eva Gordon Elementary School, principal Dr. Geneva Holmes presented statistics showing continued low proficiency rates among students, with many students still testing below grade level, but showing decent growth in learning.
Schoolwide, among 676 students, the number of students on grade level in reading increased from 76 at the beginning of the year to 190 on the last testing. In math, performance on grade level rose from just 40 students to 184.
