'I Know Some Of You Will Be Angry': Poudre School District Decides To Require Masks For All Students, Staff

FORT COLLINS, CO (CBS4) – The Poudre School District, one of Northern Colorado's largest school districts, will require all students and staff to wear masks to start the 2021-2022 school year. The announcement was made Wednesday.

Superintendent Brian Kingsley, via written statement to families, said he knew the decision to require masks for everyone in the district would cause anger among many parents.

"Whether you agree or disagree, I value you and want to remain transparent about how we made our decision," Kingsley wrote.

PSD said they used data from health agencies both locally and nationally to reach their decision. Kingsley said quarantines caused by COVID exposures were among the most problematic issues the district experienced during the previous school year. In order to keep kids in-person and in-school, PSD chose to require masks to limit spread and exposure.

Kingsley said this decision was made as a direct result of the rapid spread of the Delta COVID-19 variant.

"It's more contagious, its spreading and its impacting both vaccinated and unvaccinated people," Kingsley wrote. "Larimer County is now considered high risk."

Poudre Schools promised to reevaluate their decision to require masks when health conditions improved within the region.

The policy change goes into effect August 5.