SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — The Syracuse City School District announced a new mask policy for the upcoming school year on Wednesday afternoon. All individuals will be required to wear a mask inside school buildings and on buses, regardless if they are vaccinated against COVID-19 or not.
Staff members will also be required to be fully vaccinated or get regularly tested for COVID-19. The main motivation behind the new policies was to keep people safe inside school buildings.
“We want to continue in-person learning because we know how important in-person learning is,” said Syracuse City School District Board of Education President Dan Romeo. “So it’s a way to prevent schools from closing or people from having to be quarantined as well.”
Romeo and the Board of Education did receive feedback about a potential mask mandate before the policy was announced. Now, less than 24 hours after the rules were revealed, Romeo says that he’s still receiving feedback about the mask policy.
“I did already have text messages from people that said, ‘Thank you for having a mask mandate,’” said Romeo. “And we did hear from some people that they didn’t want masks, but I would say that the majority of people wanted to have masks.”
Romeo said that the school district doesn’t foresee any issues with enforcing the mask policy during the school year. He also mentioned that just like last school year, students will be provided masks if they don’t have one.
The Syracuse City School District will continue to talk with experts, most notably Onondaga County health officials, to determine how to adjust its mask policy throughout the school year.
