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Escambia School District Will Not Require Masks; Full List Of COVID-19 Protocols Released
August 7, 2021
There will not be a mask mandate for the Escambia County School District during the upcoming year. That was just one of the COVID-19 policies announced late Friday by the school district.
“Students may wear masks or facial coverings as a mitigation measure; however, the school must allow for a parent or guardian of the student to opt-out the student from wearing a face covering mask,” the policy states.
Students opted out of wearing masks cannot be subjected to any harassment or discrimination. Specifically, schools are forbidden from relegating the non-mask wearing students to certain physical locations, isolating them during school activities and fron excluding them from any school sponsored event or activity.
Routine cleaning of classrooms and high traffic areas will be encouraged under the plan, and Students will be encouraged to practice routine hand-washing throughout the day.
The Escambia County School District plans to allow for normal school activities such as field trips. Athletic events and extracurricular activities such as band and choral concerts will occur without seating capacity limits.
Volunteers will be allowed back on school campuses this year, and they will be allowed to chaperone field trips. Volunteers are subject to the normal pre-pandemic application process.
There will be no remote learning option this year, but the Escambia Virtual Academy is still available for grades K-12. Registration ends August 31.
To read the complete policy, including guidelines for COVID-19 positive or exposed students, click or tap here (pdf).
The first day of school in Escambia County is Wednesday, August 11.
Pictured: A classroom at Lipscomb Elementary School. NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
Comments
48 Responses to “Escambia School District Will Not Require Masks; Full List Of COVID-19 Protocols Released”
Anybody against the most aggressive measures being used to minimize the spread of covid no matter how intrusive they are to your “personal freedoms” obviously stopped paying attention in school after the eight grade. The main problem for them now is that their only source of education now is the entertainment news channel “Fox News” which is the only news channel that has to constantly apologize for reporting completely incorrect information. They will tell you Florida doesn’t have a covid problem and you would believe them while you lie in the hospital with your sick spouse and your grandkids school had to close because 75% of the kids had covid. Luckily, your sons wife is OK so she can take care her husband who didn’t get very sick and should be able to return to work in 2 weeks. So, it’s not really a problem. Don’t let it inconvenience you.
We are back to square one, except this time cases in our state are even higher than before. And the Delta variant is worse and easier to spread, especially for kids. I don’t know how we expect a different outcome this go round.
I’d just like to suggest all of you who are taking your mask and vaccine guidance from politicians defer to them as well instead of your cardiologist, internal medicine, urology, orthopedic, and other healthcare providers. After all who needs experts right? Geez the ignorance may be worse than the covid!
I wish all of you on these comments that are less than kind, would step back and realize how you are talking to one another. This is not the first disease the world has dealt with and it won’t be the last. You never persuade anyone to listen to your side of an argument by yelling at them. Just saying
@ Chris
You are 100% right…
Thats why surgeons wear them in operations….because they are usless..as your uneducated infantile opinion
Perhaps you need to fyi the CDC , WHO ,FDA and local hospitals.
All these medical people are not as smart as you
Chris, I applaud you, it’s been often said even the worst student graduating medical school is called Doctor, maybe that’s you. CDC says masks work, Doctors (like yourself) and nurses all wear masks. I’m going with the experts on this one, but oh I forgot, you are an expert. smh
@Chris
I could vote a dozen studies that all confirm that masks are effective at slowing the spread of COVID-19, but I doubt that would change your mind.
The virus is smaller than the spaces between the fibers in a mask, but it travels through the air in respiratory droplets that are expelled when you cough, sneeze, talk, or even breathe. A cloth mask is effective at capturing those respiratory droplets before someone else inhales them and is infected.
Masks work. Period.
All you mask people realize that masks DO NOT WORK, right? I’m all for the vaccine. But continuing to insist people wear a cloth or paper mask to “protect” from something that can freely get right through said cloth or paper is kind of idiotic. Masks do not work. Period.
If this virus wasn’t so contagious government wouldn’t be telling us what to do, period!!! Wearing a mask, washing our hands, social distancing, getting vaxxed…….all of these efforts don’t work unless everyone does it. I thank my parents for getting the polio and small pox vaccines so I wouldn’t have to. Those diseases are gone forever bc the vast majority of ppl took it seriously! Covid will be here forever if the vast majority don’t get vaxxed…..it will grow stronger. This isn’t about freedom its about survival. We have to do it together!!!
When you fall ill due to not being vaccinated and require a trip to the hospital, who pays? The health insurance usually provided by your employer, that’s who. When the emergency use is changed for the vaccine to fully approved, insurers can recoup the extra costs associated with treating people by charging a higher premium. Just like they do for smokers.
Soon enough, the will of the unvaccinated will break under the pressure of those that control the money.
FREEDOM…
There are millions dead from wars defending FREEDOM
FREEDOM..the most abused word today.
Coronavirus Death Toll
4,304,129…FREEDOM?
Fighting what..a piece of cloth or paper from being over your face?
You have no fight…you are selfish and pathetic .
Tell that mom and dad to inscribe FREEDOM on that childs head stone…
Tell that man to inscribe FREEDOM on his dead wifes head stone…
Go to the funerals of all that died and yell out FREEDOM…
Freedom …..screw all who use that word with no understanding of the word.
Perhaps all of you playing the word game can have STUPID BEYOND BELIEF on your tomb stone…..
I didnt fight in 2 wars to come home with idiots abusing the word FREEDOM because you are selfish. Over wearing a mask.
Go home and sit on your sofa and log onto Facebook to see if you can get a like…and spout all this BS using the word FREEDOM.
When you do not care about others..you serve no purpose for other human beings.
Now come back with some quippy article to justify STUPID
You might even get a like…idiots
Now whine and cry cupcake ….
@#lovesourgovenor Florida is leading in an area I’m not too happy with. But I’m not going anywhere. Your leave the state comment has me wondering if you’re ready to leave the USA over biden.
It’s a mask, wear it
kids will survive a mask not covid…gamble with kids lives
Mandatory for school attendance with mask, stay remotely schooled or everyone can enroll in a private school and keep containment at bay save lives etc. See the numbers in 6 months maybe
Look up at comments…
Don’t Believe. Trust. Think. Freedom
Split screen with the 12yo that got air lifted very close to this area FACT because of a shortage of hospital beds.
Doesn’t matter. Doesn’t matter. Doesn’t matter
Freedom if you are ALIVE matters
P.S. even fox news is showing this
P.P.S it’s a mask for children to wear to POSSIBLY save a child not even a question for me I give up that mask wearing freedom for a possibility of a child’s life anyday
Everyone complaining that rules this rules that or they should have to wear mask. Does the rules tell you when to get in your car and buy groceries? Does the rules tell you its cold outside to wear a jacket? Why do you need rules and laws. Be responsible for your own self and your kids. If you feel your kids need to mask up at school then mask them up. Why do you need to have someone make a rule to do so? Take initiative for your own actions and for the safety of your owns kids. My God
I think it’s fine if you don’t want to get the vaccine or wear a mask. I just think you should have to sign an agreement that you don’t want medical care of you contract the virus. Why should healthcare workers have to put their lives and their families lives at risk for you when you don’t believe it’s really a threat?? Stay home and get well on your own!!
Do mask really help?
The first 3 individuals (out of totally of 5) in my work place to become infected with covid wore mask without fail. Vaccinations and mask wearing should be up to the individual (or parents). The government should not be in charge of making health care decisions for the public.
By ignoring SAFE school Covid recommendations of the CDC and American Academy of Pediatricians, Florida’s governor and the Escambia County School System has put our young children and immunocompromised school employees at needless risk. Each classroom filled with unvaccinated children has the potential to be a super-spreader event.
As the Covid numbers have been exponentially rising in Escambia county, the only response from our ‘leadership’ has been to bury their heads in the Florida sand.
Living in Florida brings with it the risk of hurricanes. We know they will come and we know how to prepare. We also know of the damage cleanup required after a hurricane strikes. I would really like to know what the Covid damage control plan will be by the Escambia County School District. How many children and adults will needlessly die before they move to a higher level of Covid preparedness? How many Covid deaths are an ‘acceptable’ risk.
I pray I’m wrong.
Wear a mask. Get vaccinated.
So I have gone to work for this entire pandemic and have not gotten COVID.
Guess what? I masked up in public, got the vaccine, and stayed home.
Kids are getting sick and hospitalized, we have 25% positivity, and now deaths are ticking up again.
Ignore DeSantis and his self-aggrandizing bid for re-election or a 2024 run for president and protect our kids and community by wearing a dang mask and getting the vaccine.
Selfish people keeping this pandemic going by refusing to accept reality are un-American.
For those that feel Florida should be like all the states that are still shut down, requiring masks and vaccines etc please move to those states and leave us alone!
FREEDOM!!!
Bob- Funny you mention the CDC. They said, “On rare occasions, someone with the vaccine may contract Covid-19 if they don’t wear a mask.”
Let’s emphasize RARE and MAY and folks like you run around like it’s the zombie apocalypse and we’re all dead. On a rare occasion, I may get attacked by a shark but I don’t go to the beach in a steel cage!
You go for it Bob, wear a mask and do your part, the CDC will change their mind tomorrow and all of this will change. Be sure to “show your papers” when they come knocking on your door. They say we don’t need ID to vote and there are no borders but they tell us our children must wear a mask? Where are the death numbers for our county and where are the covid numbers for kids/children? If they’re scientists, where is their data of supporting facts?
Sheeps and wolves…I’m not a sheep but you appear to be.
aww just chill out everyone go pull your dipstick and check your oil in your car rub some on your forehand let sit for 15 minutes wipe off and go about your day you will be fine.
@high school parent
You must be loving under a rock if you don’t believe cases in Florida are skyrocketing. I know plenty of people sick with it right now.
Meanwhile over in Baldwin Co. Alabama where the sky is falling.
Mandatory mask till the 10th of September, (that’s the official ALL CLEAR “planned date”) for Baldwin County Board of Education.
It’s all on a schedule over here you see.
Shameful and pitiful. I guess par for the course to go along with the majority of the residents within this county to completely ignore the facts that vaccinations and protection can not only save the lives of countless innocent children but your lives as well. Oh, don’t pay attention to science and guidelines of the CDC either, that goes along with the previous mention of ignorance. Oh well, I’m waiting for the next post, Idiot Ron for Prez. eh?
Bob – Just how many deaths Bob, I cant seem to find that information, maybe you can help me out with that? We do see that up to 95% of the Covid cases are those who chose not to get vaccinated. I’ve yet to see ANY data showing children are at risk as they never were the first time around. Of the 39,000+ cases in Escambia and approximately 700+ deaths, the numbers don’t sound scary. We also should take into account how many of those deaths were truly Covid?
Ironic there is NO mandatory precaution to wear a condom when the AIDS epidemic broke loose or a required Hepatitis shot but the governments will allow abortion but tell me to wear a mask? ummmm nope!
The sky isn’t falling, just get your vaccine and wash your hands.
Glad, re need to move on.. People going to get this no matter what they do. Get it over with and move on…
This is AWESOME!!! Love our Governor! I don’t believe for a second that the numbers are soaring in Florida – what I see is people through more FEAR MONGERING going to get tested…AND I DON’T BELIEVE THEY ARE TRUTHFUL ABOUT RESULTS therefore THE NUMBERS ARE SOARING!
@ Bob, it wouldn’t be bob without the gloom and doom. You may wear a mask if you want
Mine will still wear a mask, except maybe for outside activities. Even if others don’t think the extra barrier of protection is important, I feel better knowing I’m at least TRYING to help keep them healthy. But, to each their own.
The follow up story to this will be, “Florida Teacher shortage as Covid-19 numbers sky rocket.”
Bob, please show where this will be detrimental to our kids to go to school, learn, interact with other kids AND build natural immune systems that will fight off this Fauci-built virus? Watch something other than CNN and maybe you’ll see some of the rest of world!
Exactly what the virus wanted… the opportunity to mutate into something even more deadly. Nice job. Also, good luck getting a hospital bed in the ICU for you or loved ones. Need surgery, well that’s gonna have to wait to.
Sounds like zero precautions are being taken. I see dead people…
Leaving it up to a parent isn’t such a good idea.
Plenty of them have proved that they’re Not fit to make wise decisions.
This virus is getting stronger and the local hospitals are already overwhelmed.
I feel Stupid for Not realizing how many Stupid people are in this world.
Great news, Escambia County. Let parents decide about masks, get back to normal, but practice good handwashing. Praying for a great school year!
This is so sad, this will lead to more sickness and some deaths. More school disruptions, less “smiling faces ” its hard to smile when you are sick!. Kids under 12 can’t be vaccinated to protect themselves and now you are hindering in the only protection they have left ….. for what? If you don’t want your kid to wear a masks, then keep them home, why cause harm to others?? The ones that will wear a masks will have less protection if all doesn’t wear one, What about the rights to do what is medically and just plain common sense to do for all. I see tons of law suits coming, justified ones!
I’m just so glad that caring parents still have the opportunity to make sure that their children’s lives are protected when they return to the classroom by making sure they’re masked up. Because at the end of the day, what is more important; your child being able to see a classmate’s smiling face or making sure that your child comes home safe and well with the chance to continue to live.
Bob, I’m not surprised, just disappointed to see a comment like yours. Your ignorance is no reason to subject children to your draconian ways. Mind your business and get back to work.
For those who don’t like it, I hear North Korea is great this time of year since you like living under government mandates.
Crossing my fingers that the kids who aren’t masked up come home to their unvaccinated parents to give them a real live example of viral transmissions.
I am so disappointed in the District policy on masks but not surprised. When children start dying from over exposure to the Delta, Columbian and Lambda virus. What will the Governor and the School District Superintendent have to say to the parents of the died children. “Sorry it did not come from the schools.” Bull. Save our children from the unvaccinated population.
So, lemme get this straight Bob, more than two thirds of the county heartily disagrees with you, and you want to use the government to force their compliance. Do I have that right?
Not a good look Bob, not a good look.
I wish good luck to all the students this coming school year. I won’t be surprised one bit when kids start contracting COVID, being sent home to quarantine, and start spreading it to others, including their parents and grandparents. While kids don’t suffer greatly when they contract COVID the people they spread it to are more vulnerable.
Wear a mask!
It would be great to have an idea of whats percolating in our community. It seems they can do amazing things if its in their best interest but why can’t everyone involved…children and faculty get tested prior as so we can have an idea before possible making a MOAB that will just make things so much worse. The money is there but oh no let’s use it for some made up bs project that serves only those involved in it. Laws and rules are made by those who profit from them. Put down your political pens and be retro active instead of following a blind man in a snow storm. Lead, follow or get the hell out of the way.
I wish I could say I was surprised.
I’m not.
Just disappointed.
Florida is experiencing a worse infection rate than at any other point in the pandemic. Deaths are starting to rise. Less than 40% of Escambia County takes this seriously enough to bother getting vaccinated. Now sounds like a great time to send unvaccinated kids without masks into crowded classrooms and hope for the best.
This is so exciting to hear! As a teacher and a parent, I am so excited to have a normal school year, see smiling faces, and let the kids get back to what school is all about. The kids are going to do wonderfully this year!!!
Thumbs up to you!! So happy to see a school district displaying a brain of it’s own and a backbone. Your students are going to soar high this year just from seeing each others smiles and for getting all the oxygen they need!! Good luck to you all.