Chilton County Schools to transition to mask optional policy

CHILTON Co., Ala. (WBRC) - Chilton County Schools will return to masks being optional and encouraged in schools beginning Monday, September 20, 2021. Contact tracing will still be done and parent/guardians contacted when a student is exposed to a COVID positive case.

Here is the letter that was posted for students/staff/guardians on Wednesday:

Chilton County Schools stakeholders:

Over the course of the last few weeks with the mask mandate at most schools, the number of COVID positive students and/or faculty/staff has been approximately 1% of the total number of students and faculty/staff in our school system. For example, last week we had 92 COVID positive cases in our system out of approximately 7700 students and 800 plus faculty/staff. Based on those numbers, Chilton County Schools will return to masks being optional and encouraged in our schools beginning on Monday, September 20th. Contact tracing will still be done and parent/guardians contacted when a student is exposed to a COVID positive case.

The individual will not have to be isolated if any of the following is done:

- The individual declares they are vaccinated.

- The individual has had COVID within the last 90 days.

- The individual has worn a mask. Only the close contact has to verify they were wearing a mask and not both the COVID positive individual and the exposed as was previously required.

Parent/guardians may choose to self-isolate the student even if they are not required to isolate. Some parent/guardians choose to do this out of an abundance of caution. If a student has symptoms that are Covid-like, then they should go home until they can be evaluated by their healthcare provider. Verification of an alternate diagnosis by a health care provider will allow the individual to return to school. Masks will still be required on schools buses. My hope is that these modifications will allow greater flexibility and at the same time keep students in the classroom.

Any student isolated prior to Monday, September 20th, will be required to complete their isolation time prior to their return to school. Chilton County Schools will begin on Wednesday, September 29th providing on our system website the number of COVID positive cases on individual school campuses. If the number of COVID positive cases on a campus reaches 10 percent of the total number of students and employees on that campus, masks will be required beginning the next day on Thursday until the numbers go below 10 percent or for at least one week.

Thank you for your patience as we continue to try to mitigate the virus and keep schools open.

Any specific questions can be addressed by your school principal and/or school nurse.

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