You may have been following the rulings that have been made by the Commonwealth Court regarding the mask mandate instituted by the Acting Secretary of the Department of Health.  This ruling has naturally caused some questions regarding the board-approved Wilson School District Health and Safety Plan.  

I want to remind our community that the Wilson School Board approved our District Health and Safety Plan on August 16, 2021, prior to the state’s school mask mandate.  Our plan provides for a tiered approach for masking based on the level of transmission in our local community.  In low/moderate transmission we would shift to masks being recommended.  Berks County is currently in the substantial/high transmission level, and according to our plan, when Berks County is at that level, masks are required. Our board will be reviewing our Health and Safety Plan again in mid-January.

School masking is a necessary public health measure to keep children safe and provide them with as much in-person learning in school as possible. Requiring masks in schools is helping to keep students in the classroom.  When all students are masked in the classroom they are not subject to quarantine.  My biggest concern at the present time is that if we remove the mask requirements at Wilson with the level of transmission we are currently seeing, it will necessitate a need to quarantine large groups of students, which could lead to school closures. In-person learning is what is best for our students and by following the board approved health and safety plan, Wilson will continue to be able to educate students in an in-person environment.

I shared our masking protocols at the start of the school year. You can review them here. Thank you for your continued support of the Wilson School District.