Beginning Monday the Bristol Borough School District will move to a masks are optional for policy.

The announcement came Thursday afternoon, after the districts nursing staff reported no new COVID cases for the past week and one new case during the week ending February 18.

Interim Superintendent Dr Thomas Shaffer, said in a letter addressed to the school district community “Although mandatory masking is no longer required, many students and staff may choose to wear masks. We encourage the use of masks based upon an individual’s comfort level and for high-risk individuals. Every decision regarding masking should be respected.”

District officials have been monitoring infection rates within the school district via weekly reports provided by COVID-19 Committee.

I wanted one more report from the committee to ensure we were making the right choice, said David J. Chichilitti,  School Board President, and with o cases reported for last week, we are going mask optional.

All employees, contractors, and students must continue to report any positive COVID-19 test results to the district. The district will continue to report these positive cases to the Bucks County Health Department.

Masks will continue to be required for any vaccinated individual who has been identified as a close contact to a positive COVID-19 case, in order to avoid exclusion from school per the new CDC guidelines, Shaffer in his letter said. 

Parents of school district children wondered aloud on a social media post earlier in the day, when would the district change the masking policy. The comment thread, had over 30 comments on it right as officials announced the policy change. of

The district implemented the police per CDC at the outset of the pandemic and continued the policy once students and staff returned to school last fall.

“I didn’t want to wait until the next school board meeting in two weeks to make the change to masks optional” Chichilitti said.

“Our goal is to keep our students and staff safe and in school,” Shaffer said.