St. Cloud School Board votes to make masks optional
ST. CLOUD — Another school district in central Minnesota is making face masks optional in their buildings.
Beginning Thursday, students in the St. Cloud Area School District will be able to choose whether or not to wear a mask at school based on individual and family wishes.
At Wednesday evening’s meeting, Superintendent Willie Jet presented the board with a recommendation to make masks optional, and the board voted to approve it 5-1. Council Clerk Les Green left the meeting before the vote.
Masks will continue to be required on all school buses and district transportation due to a federal mandate. Jett says the recommendation to change the district’s universal masking policy was made based on conversations with state and local health officials who agreed that the number of COVID-19 cases was trending down. in the four counties served by the district.
The district will continue to monitor case counts and positivity rates in the community and may revise the policy as needed. Jett says they still encourage people to wash their hands regularly and stay home when sick. The district is also providing KN95 masks and home COVID-19 test kits upon request.
WATCH: Here are the pets banned in each state
Since the regulation of exotic pets is left to the states, some organizations, including the Humane Society of the United States, are advocating for standardized federal legislation that would prohibit the ownership of large cats, bears, primates, and large poisonous snakes as pets.
Read on to see which pets are banned in your home country, as well as nationwide.