The Board of Education tonight unanimously voted to lift the mask mandate in county school facilities, supporting a recommendation from Superintendent George Arlotto that came after the Maryland Department of Health and the Maryland State Department of Education confirmed the county had hit the appropriate threshold to do so. Masks will become optional in all AACPS buildings on Friday, February 18, 2022.
Statewide school masking regulations adopted by the Maryland State Board of Education provide three pathways through which a local school system can lift the mandate. One of those allows that to happen when a county reaches 80 percent vaccination rate.
Those on school buses will still be required to be masked per federal regulations and those at schools on Fort George G. Meade will need to continue to follow the regulations of the post.
VACCINATION-OR-TEST PROGRAM FOR STUDENT-ATHLETES
At tonight’s meeting, Dr. Arlotto also announced that spring high school student-athletes will not be subject to the vaccination-or-test program that has been in place in the winter season. Testing for winter student-athletes will continue through the end of the winter season.