Orange County schools extends mask requirement through February

Superintendent Barbara Jenkins made the announcement on Friday, Jan. 28.

By Annabelle Sikes
| 11:00 a.m. January 31, 2022

West Orange Times & Observer
News

Orange County Public Schools announced the extension of the mask requirement for all adults on a school campus.

The announcement, made on Friday, Jan. 28, pertains to all employees, volunteers, visitors and vendors.

Adults must wear a mask while they are on an Orange County campus or inside a school vehicle through February.

Although face masks are currently not required for students, OCPS said they are still "strongly encouraged."

"We still strongly encourage the use of face masks by students,"OCPS said in a statement.

Orange County schools also announced earlier in the week that the district will no longer be able to provide excused absences if parents keep their child home due to concern about COVID-19 cases.

“Additionally, the State has not extended the quarantined code to be used in accommodation of absences in our attendance records, so students should be considered truant for non-attendance. We simply must discontinue the provision,” the district said in a statement.

For more information on OCPS, click here.

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Annabelle Sikes

News Editor Annabelle Sikes was born in Boca Raton and moved to Orlando in 2018 to attend the University of Central Florida. She graduated from UCF in May 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a minor in sociology. Her past journalism experiences include serving as a web producer at the Orlando Sentinel, a reporter at The Community Paper, managing editor for NSM Today, digital manager at Centric Magazine and as an intern for the Orlando Weekly.