Another Sacramento-area school district moves to stop enforcing COVID mask mandate

Another Northern California school district moved this week to relax its enforcement of the state’s COVID-19 mandate requiring students to wear masks in class.

The Rocklin Unified School District decided in a special board meeting Wednesday to make masks optional for its students.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration previously signaled that it plans to loosen the state mandate at the end of this month, shifting to a policy that would strongly recommend masks rather than require them.

The Rocklin meeting was called to consider “litigation and liability for COVID-19 protocols and options for enforcement moving forward,” Board Vice President Julie Hupp said. “We feel this is important to consider before our students return from their break.”

“We’re listening to everyone on both sides, being as thoughtful as we can be,” she said before the board went to closed session.

After three and a half hours, the board announced that “current face covering enforcement protocols prevent students from achieving their fullest academic potential and social emotional well-being.” Citing a decreasing case rate, the board directed the superintendent to alert families that students would be instructed on state guidance for masks, but would not be excluded from classrooms or school activities for not wearing it.

Masks will still be available to students who want one, said board member Dereck Counter. Staff and adult volunteers on campus must wear masks while on campus to comply to OSHA guidelines.

District spokesman Sundeep Dosangh said state agencies have not contacted the district over its masking policy.

The new policy takes effect when students return to campus on Feb. 28, which is when the state is expected to issue new guidance on school masking.

The Board of Trustees’ decision comes just a few months after it voted 4-1 for a resolution requesting local control over vaccine and masking policies.

Roseville Joint Union High School District became the first district last week to announce a mask choice policy, starting a domino effect when it announced it would no longer exclude unmasked students from class. Just a day after Roseville’s policy took effect, El Dorado Union High School District followed suit, along with Rescue Union School District and Buckeye Union.

Since then, most of Placer County’s large school districts have a adopted optional mask policies.