Local schools weigh new mask policies for August while urging staff to get vaccinated
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File / The Outlook

Benjamin Russell High School health science students wear their masks during a patient simulation earlier this year. Alexander City Schools kept its indoor mask mandate through May 1 but as of Tuesday does anticipate bringing it back in August.

On Monday, Gov. Kay Ivey said she did not think Alabama public schools would need mask mandates, but that didn't stop all five Tallapoosa County Board of Education members from wearing face coverings at their meeting later that day.

Unlike Alexander City Schools, Tallapoosa County Schools kept its indoor mask mandate through the last day of school in May but had intended to drop when school returned in August. Given the county's four-fold increase in daily COVID-19 cases in the past month, however, Superintendent Ray Porter has held off on declaring one way or the other.