At Monday night's Rockingham County School board meeting, the board voted again on whether to continue to require masks in county schools for all. And just like the vote in January, the tally was 3-2 in favor of continuing mask requirements in schools until community transmission of COVID-19 drops to a moderate or low level per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the law changes in Virginia.
The motion was brought by Board Chair Dan Breeden and approved by Breeden, Lowell Fulk and Charlette McQuilkin.
Vice Chair Jackie Lohr and Matt Cross voted against the motion.
Cross wanted a motion to make masks optional immediately. Lohr wanted to allow parents to opt out of mask-wearing for their child.
Meanwhile in Richmond, A vote on the floor of the Virginia House of Delegates now paves the way for masks to be optional inside schools across the commonwealth. The measure now heads to Governor Glenn Youngkin’s desk for his signature. Youngkin's office says he will add a clause to allow the change to take effect immediately instead of the normal July 1 of most bills.