ALAMEDA — Students now must wear masks both indoors and outdoors while on school grounds, a requirement that goes beyond state guidelines for public safety.
Unvaccinated students also must get tested up to two times each month for COVID-19, trustees with the Alameda Unified School District decided unanimously during a special session on Thursday.
“This is a tough one for me,” school board President Mia Bonta said during the online meeting. “I know we all wish and hope we did not have to wear masks in our lives. But we do.”
The California Department of Public Health guidelines call for students in kindergarten through 12th grade, and adults in school settings, to wear masks indoors when students are present.
Currently, all Alameda students are tested for the virus once a month, though it is not mandatory. Under the new policy, the two monthly tests will be required for all students who are not vaccinated.
The continuing pandemic and the need to protect students requires stronger measures, including wearing masks outdoors, according to district Superintendent Pasquale Scuderi.
Transmission rates of the virus are lower outdoors, Scuderi acknowledged, except when many people are gathered.
“We have a crowded outdoor event every day at our elementary schools,” he said. “It’s called recess. And in all cases there, we have unvaccinated students.”
There currently is no COVID-19 vaccine for children younger than 12.
Students will be allowed to remove their masks on campus while eating and drinking. Students will have the option to wear a face shield if they have a verified medical condition.
“Our staff will have some discretion in this,” Scuderi said. “Our teachers and our principals have been doing an amazing job in keeping our kids safe and so they can allow for mask-wearing breaks, even under this policy, outdoors, for students if they are able to remain safely distanced.”
The rules will be in place through winter break, which for Alameda students begins on Dec. 20 and continues through Jan. 2, 2022.
The requirements will be reviewed after Nov. 1, when state health officials are expected to revise guidelines regarding masking at school sites.
Kirsten Zazo, the district’s assistant superintendent of educational services, told the meeting that families were questioned before the school year began on Aug. 16 about whether their child was vaccinated.
Families had the option not to disclose the information, Zazo said. But students whose information was not available are being tested.
Bonta said trustees needed to act to protect students.
“Right now, I think it’s a prudent course of action (to adopt stricter safety measures) for us to be able to ensure we have that ability,” she said.
The Alameda Unified School District has about 9,600 students, including those in elementary, middle and high schools.
