State education commissioner won’t require masks in public schools

(Missourinet) Missouri public school districts will decide whether to make students and staff wear masks when classes restart this fall. State education commissioner Margie Vandeven says she won’t require it.

“Circumstances vary across the state –the age of the child certainly makes a difference, the ability to social distance. There’s a lot of factors that go into the mask decision-making,” she says. “So, we have left that to the local level.”

Vandeven says surveys she has seen show the majority of people want in-person classes in the fall, with extra precautions.