Denver School Districts Drop Mandates, 'Strongly Encourage' Masks

DENVER, CO — Cherry Creek School District and Adams 12 Five Star Schools announced Tuesday that they will allow their mask mandates to expire at the end of Friday. Starting Monday, face coverings will no longer be required in either district.

The Tri-County Health Department voted Monday evening not to renew its indoor mask mandate, following a similar decision by Denver last week, Colorado Public Radio and Patch reported.

In a letter to the community, Cherry Creek Schools Superintendent Christopher Smith cited the health department's vote to allow mandates to lapse for his decision to end the district's masking requirement.

Though the requirement has been lifted, "masks will be strongly encouraged" for students and staff in the district, and are still required for bus drivers and passengers, Smith wrote.

"This change comes as the district and community continue to see sharp decreases in the numbers of reported COVID-19 cases," Smith said in the letter. "Please help us continue this trend by keeping students home when they are sick and not returning to school until symptoms have greatly resolved."

In conjunction with the lifting of the mask mandate, Smith said, schools in the Cherry Creek district will no longer contact families when "students are in a classroom with a positive COVID-19 case," though they will continue to keep their online data tracker updated with all reported cases.

Adams 12 Five Star Schools also announced in a letter to the community that, in accordance with updated guidance from the Tri-County Health Department, masks will not be required in school starting Monday.

Though the requirement is lifting, that school too still strongly encourages mask-wearing.

"Over the past two years, the district has aligned health and safety decisions in schools on guidance from local public health," the school said in the letter. "TCHD’s decision to allow the mask mandate in school settings to expire is due to rapidly improving COVID-19 conditions, vaccine availability, as well as a wide range of effective prevention measures available to our schools and community — including the availability of high-quality masks for those who choose to wear one, rapid testing, good ventilation, and having people stay home when they are sick."

Both schools said that they will continue with their disinfection procedures while still working to find ways to increase ventilation. Masks will be available for students who request them.

Though COVID-19 rates are still very high in both Adams and Arapahoe counties, the Tri-County Health Department said in a statement that rates have declined by more than 65 percent since Jan. 11.

"Our projections are that rates will be under 300 per 100,000 for both counties by Feb. 4 and will fall below the CDC definition of 'high' transmission (100 per 100,000) by Feb. 7," Dr. John Douglas, the department's executive director, said in the statement. “In addition to vaccine-related immunity, the unprecedented numbers of recent cases have substantially enhanced population immunity."