COLORADO SPRINGS — On Monday, a letter was sent out to the Colorado Springs School District 11 community announcing that the district will lift its mask requirement starting December 13.
This is the second major school district in Colorado Springs to do this. On Monday, Academy School District 20 announced that they would be doing the same thing.
About a month ago D11 recorded their highest number of confirmed cases this school year. 33 people tested positive for COVID-19. Since then that number has steadily dropped. However, that is more than what was recorded at around the same time last year, which was around 12 COVID-19 cases. So far, there have been a total of 1,405 confirmed cases this school year.
Letter from D11:
Good afternoon,
Since the beginning of this school year, the primary goal in D11 has been to keep students in school. We know most students learn best when they are physically present in the school environment and we have put protocols in place to achieve this goal.
There continue to be updates in the fight against COVID-19 such as all eligible Coloradans can receive the COVID-19 vaccine and booster, if they choose, all children 5 - 18 are eligible to receive the vaccine, if they choose, and El Paso County is showing early signs of test positivity rate decline. Because of these developments, facial coverings/masks will not be required in D11 schools and buildings beginning December 13, 2021. Facial coverings/masks will only be required for any students or staff members while using district transportation, due to a federal mandate. We encourage everyone to adhere to important personal hygiene practices such as frequent handwashing and we will continually sanitize and clean our facilities. We also know many will continue to wear facial coverings/masks for their hygiene and protection, which we will support.
We anticipate more guidance to come from EI Paso County Public Health soon and we will communicate that information with you as we receive it. As always, if your child is not feeling well, please keep them home and follow the guidance on returning to school after illness provided on the D11 Return to Learn website. All D11 staff members are also being asked to stay home if they are not feeling well and return to work when they feel better.
I’m looking forward to a time when we won’t be living in a pandemic but until then, I know we are all working collaboratively to ensure the best education and safety of all in D11.
Yours in Partnership,
Dr. Michael J. Thomas, Superintendent
Colorado Springs School District 11
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