The Chula Vista Elementary School District Board of Education unanimously voted Wednesday night to lift the mask mandate on March 21.
Earlier this month, Gov. Gavin Newsom and State Health officials issued an order lifting the mask mandate beginning March 12. Under this order, all students and staff, regardless of their vaccination status, are no longer required to wear masks indoors at school and child care facilities.
Individual school districts can decide how they would like to proceed under this order.
San Diego County was recently classified as having a “low” level of COVID-19 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under new guidelines which categorizes counties by their community transmission risk levels. Other school districts in the county have lifted their mask mandates after Newsom's announcement.
The end of the mask mandate comes almost after two years of the state's first shut down of schools in many districts in March 2020.
“California continues to adjust our policies based on the latest data and science, applying what we’ve learned over the past two years to guide our response to the pandemic,” Newsom said in a statement last month.
According to the district’s board, it will maintain its requirements for masks one week longer to allow more time to hire custodial staff and improve air filtration systems.
No one spoke at the meeting during the agenda items public comment portion in favor of masks remaining in place.
The district has met with various stakeholders and groups on this topic, including labor groups, who support optional masking. The implementation of mask-choice in CVESD will be applied once students return from spring break, which begins on March 21.
The Sweetwater Union High School District is expected to announce its decision during a March 14 board meeting.
