AUSTIN, Texas — Round Rock ISD (RRISD) is easing up on some of its COVID-19 protocols, including masking.
The school district said that effective Monday, Feb. 21, masks will now be "strongly recommended" for fully-vaccinated students, staff and visitors while indoors. For those who are unvaccinated or immunocompromised, masks are strongly recommended at all times on campus.
The district cited declining coronavirus cases in Williamson and Travis counties in its Feb. 17 blog post.
Although, some RRISD parents are on board with the new policy, others are hesitant. Colin McGraw, a dad of five, told KVUE that all of his kids – ages 9 to 14 – have contracted the omicron variant but added that, moving forward, he's focused on the numbers.
"I'm a big believer in data. So the data supported wearing masks before, and we were all for wearing masks. The data supports taking the masks off now, and we support that," said McGraw.
Meanwhile, Monica Molina, a mom of a first-grader, told KVUE that, regardless of the new policy, her daughter will be wearing a mask at school.
"She has a couple of masks in her backpack. I don't see why shouldn't she wear one? They're not tight on her face so she can breathe," said Molina.
In addition to the masking update, RRISD said visitors will now be allowed on campuses, at the discretion of the school's principal. As per usual, Round Rock ISD visitors will be required to present an ID to alert campus officials to any possible matches in the sex offender database.
The school district said that, while it is easing up on some protocols, others remain in place.
Students and staff are being notified of confirmed cases, the district's COVID-19 dashboard is staying up to date, there is enhanced air filtration and classes are closing if there is "a significant number of epi-linked COVID cases." Everyone is also encouraged to stay socially distant and frequently wash their hands.
These changes come weeks after a petition circulated at Round Rock ISD and many students walked out of classes. The petition, which called for better COVID-19 precautions, garnered more than 1,700 student signatures and more than 400 parent and faculty signatures. Concerned students said close contacts to those who are infected weren't being tracked and the mask mandate was not being enforced, among other issues.
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