Here are mask policies for all MS Coast school districts as COVID surges across state
After the Pascagoula-Gautier School District changed course on Thursday to require masks, Gulfport and Pass Christian school districts followed suit on Friday. On Monday, Biloxi, Hancock County and Long Beach schools announced a mask mandate. On Tuesday, the Ocean Springs School District board voted to require masks.
This story has been updated to reflect those announcements.
Coast schools largely won’t require students or staff to wear masks this year.
Thanks to a mandate by Gov. Tate Reeves, masks were required for all last school year. But Reeves has said repeatedly that he has no intention of requiring masks again.
That counters CDC guidance that everyone, vaccinated or not, should wear masks in schools. Children under 12 are not eligible for the vaccine, and cases among kids nationally have jumped as the highly transmissible delta variant spreads.
On the Coast, most districts said they were planning to defer to the governor and would require masks only if mandated. But with cases still rising and the first day of school nearing, districts have changed course.
Moss Point, under its plan released in May, will require masks at schools.
In Mississippi and on the Coast in particular, vaccination rates are much lower than they are nationally: 32% of Mississippians are fully vaccinated. In Harrison and Jackson Counties, just 30% and 28% of people are fully vaccinated.
COVID-19 cases are surging in Mississippi and around the country. The new case figures reported by the state health department in recent days, like Wednesday’s 1,875 cases, are comparable to or higher than the daily figures the state was seeing last year just before school started.
In other states, districts have mandated masks on their own. Schools in Louisville, Kentucky and Atlanta, Georgia, among many others, have taken that approach in recent days.
Many districts are urging students and staff to get vaccinated and have held vaccination events on campus for district families, including kids 12 and older who are eligible for the vaccine. In a video message shared on Facebook on July 27, Pass Christian Superintendent Dr. Carla Evers said that more than 100 Pass Christian students and family members had been vaccinated at a school distribution events.
Here’s what each district is planning regarding masks:
Bay St. Louis-Waveland
Masks: The district will not require masks unless mandated by the governor, according to Superintendent Dr. Sandra Reed.
Link to plan (This plan, published on May 28, 2021, is out of date and will be changed before school starts)
Vaccine event: Students ages 12 and older and their family members can get the Pfizer vaccine (for free, as at all vaccine sites) at Waveland Pharmacy (112 Auderer Blvd.) from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursday, July 29 and the subsequent Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Call 228-463-1055 to schedule an appointment.
Biloxi
- Masks: At an Aug. 2 meeting, the Biloxi school board accepted the district’s recommendations to mandate masks for all students, staff and visitors. “By requiring that masks be worn by all students/staff, there will not be a requirement to quarantine classroom close contacts based on current CDC and MSDH guidance (as long as proper mask wearing was observed). This means drastically less disruption to the learning process for many students,” Superintendent Marcus Boudreaux said in a letter to parents. The decision will be reevaluated at the September school board meeting.
- Link to plan
Gulfport
- Masks: As of Friday, July 30, masks will be mandatory for all students and staff starting on Monday, Aug. 2.
- Link to plan
Hancock County
- Masks: Students and staff will be required to wear masks starting Tuesday, Aug. 3, the new Superintendent Teresa Merwin said in a Facebook video on Monday. In explaining the decision, she said COVID cases have continued to rise since she announced masks would be “parent choice.” “This rise has already affected neighboring schools that started school in July,” she said. “Students have been sent home to quarantine, and in two cases schools have been shut down for two weeks. we don’t want this for our students.”
- Link to plan
Harrison
- Masks: Masks and face coverings are optional, but will be required if mandated by the governor.
- Link to plan
Jackson County
- Masks: Not required, but the district “will follow all state and federal mandates and laws.” Superintendent John Strycker wrote in a letter to families last week that “we feel that normalcy would not include requiring masks and vaccinations against COVID-19. We strongly believe that deciding to wear a mask or to take a COVID-19 vaccination is a personal choice. Therefore, wearing a mask and/or being vaccinated against COVID-19 at JCSD is optional but will not be required unless mandated by law.” (Vaccination requirements are set at the state level, not by individual school districts, and no state in the country has so far mandated students get the COVID-19 vaccine.)
- Link to plan
Long Beach
- Masks: Required starting 8 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 3, the district announced Monday. “Our decision to require universal masking regardless of vaccination status stems from our ongoing focus to keep our students onsite and engaged as in- person learners.”
- Link to plan
Moss Point
- Masks: According to its plan released in May, the district will require masks, but the document noted “the CDC Guidelines and recommendations will be followed if and when masks are not required for non-vaccinated individuals.”
- Link to plan
Ocean Springs
- Masks: Masks will be required following a vote by the school board on Tuesday, Aug. 3.
- Link to plan
Pascagoula-Gautier
- Masks: On Thursday, Superintendent Wayne Rodolfich announced masks will be required for everyone on campus, including students, staff, and visitors, regardless of vaccination status. The district became the first on the Coast to switch from a masks-optional to a masks-required policy as cases rise around the state.
- Link to plan
Pass Christian
- Masks: Face coverings are required for students and staff.
- The district has developed three phases with regard to COVID-19 cases and safety policies. Under Phase 1, masks are “strongly recommended” and unvaccinated close contacts of someone who tests positive for COVID-19 can return to school for symptom monitoring. Under Phase 2, masks are strongly recommended and close contacts who are NOT vaccinated or who are NOT wearing a mask will be quarantined for 10 days from the last exposure. In Phase 3, masks are required. The district is starting the school year in Phase 3.
- Link to plan [Does not reflect announcement on Friday, July 30 that masks will be mandatory]
This story was originally published July 28, 2021 at 11:54 AM.
