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On Tuesday afternoon, Gov. John Bel Edwards announced that he was lifting Louisiana’s Mask mandate. During his announcement, he gave public schools the option of mandating masks inside of their school buildings. School districts can open out of the mask mandate if the district is following the CDC and LDH quarantine and isolation guidance. Bogalusa City Schools has always followed these guidelines, and therefore is eligible to opt out of the mask mandate.

Bogalusa City Schools will no longer mandate the wearing of masks in our schools, but we will continue to encourage any and all students, faculty, and staff to wear a mask if he/she wishes to do so. Masks are still required on any public transportation, so masks will continue to be mandated on school buses.

We will continue to provide masks for bus riders if they do not have one, as long as masks are attainable by our district. Masks are getting harder to find and purchase, so we encourage all students to please bring a mask from home and keep it to wear while on the bus or, if they wish, in the classroom.

While we are all keenly aware that the positivity rate for COVID-19 may be very low at this time, it is still around in our communities. Please know that we will continue to monitor and take advisement from the CDC and LDH if a spike reoccurs in the future.

If this should happen, masking will return and a mask mandate will be reinstated for our students, faculty, and staff.

The end of the current mask mandate will go into effect beginning Thursday, Oct. 28.