Allowing Masks at School

Recently, the national dialogue regarding education has shifted in the direction of opening schools in some capacity to children this fall. However, it’s likely that schools will need to implement controls to help reduce the chance that the novel coronavirus could spread. While most of these changes can be done at a procedural level, today we’d like to highlight one policy that may be necessary to review in light of this situation.

Your student dress and appearance policy may initially seem like an unusual place to start. However, students may want, or be required, to wear a mask to practice source control. Therefore, it is important to review your dress and appearance policy to ensure that it’s compatible with masks, and any mandates on wearing them. Look for language about garments worn on the head and consider adding medical or public health reasons in addition to religious purposes for head and face coverings. Another way to solve the problem would be to create an exception. Adding in a clause that gives an administrator the authority to allow facial coverings to be worn during public health emergencies allows for these masks to be worn when it is warranted.