Providence Public Schools To Make Masks Optional

PROVIDENCE, RI — Providence Public Schools will make masks optional for parents and faculty in schools, beginning Monday, school officials said.

"In Providence and districts across the state, we are fortunately seeing a decline in students testing positive for COVID,"said Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green. "Given this data, the experience of other districts, and after consultation with health experts and the PPSD community, we have decided to move Providence Public Schools to a mask optional policy starting on Monday, April 11. This is a positive milestone brought about by the district’s strong COVID mitigation efforts."

School officials said the decision came after consultation with the Rhode Island Department of Health, the close monitoring of cases and feedback from students, parents, teachers and staff.

Over the past several weeks, there has been an average of less than 10 positive COVID-19 cases each day across the district of over 20,000 students, according to school officials.

Last week, Providence Public Schools launched a community survey to gather input from students, families, staff, and community members. More than 3,000 people responded, and about 70 percent agreed with making masks optional for students and staff.

"We are pleased to be at a point where the data shows it is safe for Providence Public Schools to move to a mask optional policy," Superintendent Javier Montañez said in a statement. "However, I want to stress that we may return to masking if there’s a spike in cases. We will be tracking the data closely. I also want to stress that masks are just one layer of our COVID strategy. We will continue to provide free vaccination clinics, free testing, and increased ventilation and sanitation in all schools."

With the changes, the following COVID-19 guidance will be in place.

• There will be no tolerance for any negative comments regarding a person’s choice for masking.
• People who have or develop symptoms must isolate at home for at least five days from the onset of symptoms, and wear a well-fitting mask for five more days, regardless of vaccination status.

Outbreak Response

Providence Public Schools shifted away from contact tracing and will focus on outbreak response, school officials said.

For elementary schools, schools will notify all students and families if there is a potential exposure from someone in their homeroom. The district will advise that non-vaccinated students in the classroom wear masks for 10 days from date of first exposure.

For middle and high schools, schools will notify all students that there was a positive case in the school, and advise that non-vaccinated students who share a classroom with the positive student wear masks for 10 days from the date of first exposure.

School officials said the district will shift to requiring masks again if advised by RIDOH or other state officials. Additionally, if the CDC's community risk level for Providence County increases from low to medium or high, schools could return to mask requirements for all.