The Catholic Diocese of Little Rock released a statement Thursday mandating face masks for all students and staff in Catholic elementary schools in Arkansas. That includes St. Joseph Catholic School in Fayetteville. It s something that I think a month ago we thought maybe we would be able to avoid, but unfortunately in the last two weeks things have changed a lot, said St. Joseph Catholic Schools assistant principal, Mark Wilburn. And the numbers have had a big uptick and a lot of fears with this delta variant and so we ve made the decision to start the year wearing masks. The mask mandate is for all students 4 and older and all staff members, regardless of vaccination status. Catholics schools do not fall under the same guidelines as public schools, which cannot mandate masks due to ACT 1002.
Diocese of Little Rock says all Catholic elementary schools will require masks this fall
This decision to require masks was made as a rise in COVID-19 cases spiked in Arkansas due to the Delta variant. Author: Kathryn Gilker Updated: 6:41 PM CDT July 23, 2021
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. While public schools can’t require masks for the upcoming school year, private schools can, and today the Diocese of Little Rock decided that masks will be mandatory at the start of this school year at all their elementary schools.
“We believe it’s the right decision at the right time, Mark Wilburn, assistant principal at St. Joseph Catholic School in Fayetteville, said. Things have changed in the last few weeks. We went from 130 active cases on the 7-day average to 1,300.