Community News

School Board tightens mask requirement

By Lightning Reports, Published: August 31, 2021

Henderson County public school students, staff and visitors will be required to wear face coverings in all indoor settings, including indoor extracurricular activities on school grounds, effective Wednesday.

The new order is a change to the Henderson County School Board's decision on Aug. 9 requiring face coverings indoors only when students were scheduled for instruction and not during indoor athletic events.

Based on the School Board's authority, Superintendent Dr. John Bryant updated the administrative expectations for the district, which will now require students, staff and visitors to wear face coverings indoors at all school system locations and properties, except for those with legal exceptions already established by the state's StrongSchoolsNC Toolkit.

District administrators and school board members remain committed to monitoring community health trends and adjusting school system operations in the interest of student, staff and public health, the school system said in a news release.

Instructional “Return to Learn” plans will continue to be evaluated and refined based on current health data, as well as federal, state and local guidelines. Any additional changes will be communicated to HCPS families via SwiftK12 emails and phone calls. Current district plans are also updated online at www.HCPSNC.org/ReturnToLearn.