Masks Requirements for WJCC Schools – Update for Feb 17, 2022
The following information is from WJCC Schools
“WJCC Schools families and staff:
As you may be aware, the Governor and General Assembly have recently adopted Senate Bill 739. The legislation goes into effect immediately and supersedes prior legislation, including Senate Bill 1303.
As a result, starting tomorrow, Thursday, February 17, students will have the choice to wear or not wear masks at WJCC Schools.
Mask requirements will remain, however:
- For any individual on buses per federal regulation.
- For all WJCC Schools staff per Virginia Department of Labor and Industry (DOLI) regulations, while our region is in high transmission per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
- For all adults at WJCC Schools in any capacity, including tutors, spectators, volunteers, or visitors, while in high transmission.
We encourage and highly recommend all families to consider continued mask use for their students – in and outside of our schools – as our community remains in high COVID transmission.
WJCC Schools remains committed to other mitigation efforts, such as our testing programs outlined below, making masks available to those who need or request one, and continually improving ventilation in our indoor spaces. We appreciate your partnership in keeping your child home when they are experiencing any symptoms of illness, and we continue to recommend vaccinating all eligible family members.
The Test to Stay program allows students identified as close contacts in the school setting (such as an outbreak) or students who self-report an exposure to COVID-19 outside of school to remain in school so long as they test negative and are not symptomatic. Assessors and nurses will work to provide parents of eligible students with Test to Stay program information and test kits.
Additionally, parents may register their child for participation in the ViSSTA Testing program that offers bi-weekly surveillance testing.
As we move through another pandemic transition, we renew our commitment to mutual respect and treating others with civility. As families make decisions for their child’s future mask use at school, we urge you to recognize and respect how one family’s decision may differ from another. WJCC Schools will continue to deliver these messages of kindness and respect, and we appreciate you reinforcing the same message at home, too.”
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