Southern Boone School Board Members said Friday parent feedback was split on their changes to mask requirements. The school board rescinded masking requirements for all school buildings during a Thursday special school board meeting packed with parents.

Southern Boone School Board President Steve Condron said he got both praise and criticism from parents after the elimination of mask requirements in school buildings and the school board’s action to shorten quarantine periods to less than 14 days under certain conditions. Condron said both of those changes were possibly temporary.

Condron said, “For a mask mandate to return, it would require the school board to revisit the plan which we are required to do statutorily every six months. In December, we’ll be looking at the plan and re-evaluating the situation we find ourselves in.”

Thursday night’s special school board meeting was packed with parents. Condron said public feedback played a huge role in school board decisions.

Condron said, “We’re getting a lot of feedback from both sides. I received emails from parents in support of what happened Thursday night. I received feedback from parents that feel a mask mandate is warranted given our current situation. It’s really kind of all over the place.”

Federal guidelines required all students to wear masks on school buses. The vote to eliminate mask requirements in school buildings came after Southern Boone Elementary School started a mask mandate last week, and Southern Boone Middle School adopted a mask mandate on Thursday morning. 15% of the population was absent at both the elementary school and the middle school in Southern Boone County because of positive COVID-19 cases and quarantines at the time of the decision. Virtual classes were still an option.