Aiken County Superintendent King Laurence announced Thursday (July 8) that effective immediately the wearing of face coverings on all District school buses is optional for all ACPSD employees and at the discretion of parents and guardians for students.
On Tuesday, July 6, the South Carolina State Department of Education (SCDE) changed its guidance to school districts regarding the mandatory mask policy on school buses. Superintendent Laurence says while the school district will follow the guidance from the SCDE making face coverings optional on all buses for employees with parental discretion for students, all ACPSD students and staff are still encouraged to wear masks on ACPSD buses.
“We still believe the wearing of face coverings on our District’s school buses to be in the best interests of public health so we will continue to recommend that our students and staff wear them on our school buses,” commented Superintendent Laurence.
A federal government mask mandate for bus drivers and students had been in effect previously, but relaxed federal mandates and South Carolina General Assembly legislation created an opportunity for state educational officials to revisit the mandatory mask policy on buses.
Proviso 1.108 was adopted by the General Assembly in the 2021-22 Appropriations Bill and reads as follows:
1.108. (SDE: Mask Mandate Prohibition): No school district, or any of its schools, may use any funds appropriated or authorized pursuant to this act to require that its students and/or employees wear a facemask at any of its education facilities. This prohibition extends to the announcement or enforcement of any such policy.
The SCDE interprets the proviso to mean that school districts are prohibited from requiring students and employees to wear a facemask while in any of its educational facilities for the 2021-22 school year and educational facilities include all property such as school buses which is owned and operated by the individual district.
According to the SCDE, while it has previously enforced the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s January 29, 2021, order that requires the use of face coverings by people on public transportation conveyances and hubs, which includes school buses, effective immediately, the organization will exercise enforcement discretion and no longer enforce the face covering requirement on state owned school buses.
The use of face coverings by students and staff on school buses and within school facilities, however, will remain a recommendation of state and federal public health officials.
LINK TO DISTRICT PRESS RELEASE: 2021 PR MASKS OPTIONAL ON BUSES