Mitchell High School, South Dakota. Photo via Mitchell Now.
MITCHELL, S.D. (KMIT) — The mask mandate has ended in the Mitchell School District.
The mandate was in effect during the entire 2020-21 school year, was relaxed during the summer, and was re-adopted by the Mitchell School Board at the beginning of the current school year.
Mitchell Schools Superintendent Joe Graves recommended the mask requirement come to an end. He told KMIT it was time to focus on vaccination as a means to prevent COVID now that kids 5 and up are eligible.
COVID-19 numbers have been low in the Mitchell School District this year. Graves says he wasn’t sure if the mask mandate is the reason why.
Graves says even if COVID case numbers increase again in Mitchell schools, the board is unlikely to revisit a mask mandate.
“I think the movement now has been towards vaccination,” Graves said, adding that parents concerned about their children’s health can get their kids vaccinated.
The board voted 3-2 to end the mandate.
(Billy Lurken, KMIT, contributed this report.)
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