LRSD Lifts Mask Mandate
During the March 10 LRSD school board meeting, the district voted to end the mask mandate based on CDC guidelines, discontinued contact tracing, and hold future meetings in person.
The CDC guidelines the district is following is a color-coded tool called COVID-19 Community Levels. Community levels break up the United States by county and give each county a green, yellow, or orange rating. Green means COVID-19 risk is low and people should get tested if COVID-19 symptoms are present, yellow means medium risk and mask are recommended for people at high risk for severe COVID-19, and orange means high risk of COVID-19 and mask are recommended for all people indoors and outdoors. Based on a community level, LRSD will make masks optional while Pulaski County is in the medium to low-risk category. For more information on COVID-19 community levels, go to
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/covid-by-county.html
Currently, Pulaski County is in the yellow or medium risk category. This means as of March 10 and 11, LRSD students and staff are not required to wear masks; however, following the vote, Superintendent Mike Poore released a statement that advised wearing masks. People who want to wear masks may continue to do so.
“That personal choice (of mask-wearing) that individuals might make … they need to make those choices, and we need to respect those choices,” said Poore.
Along with ending the LRSD mask mandate, the district also voted to do away with contact tracing. While these measures are gone the district says it will monitor the situation and respond accordingly. For more information from Poore, go to
