Coronavirus

Hopkinton Becomes First School to Lift Mask Mandate in Mass. Monday

After eclipsing Massachusetts' 80% vaccination rate threshold among students and staff, Hopkinton High School is lifting its mask mandate in a three-week trial

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High schoolers in Hopkinton will be the first in Massachusetts to go to class without a mask Monday in the start of an experimental trial run.

The Hopkinton School Committee approved the three-week trial last month, which allows fully vaccinated high schoolers the option to unmask while in school from Nov. 1 through Nov. 19.

More then 95% of the school's population is vaccinated. Hopkinton is one of two school districts in Massachusetts that have demonstrated at least 80% of students and staff have been vaccinated, which is the required threshold set by the state to allow mask mandates exemptions.

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education granted a request to lift the mask mandate at Hopkinton High School after the district submitted the necessary documentation last week.

The opt-out process became available for Massachusetts schools last month. Hopkinton was the first school in the state to be granted permission to lift the indoor mandate.

High schoolers in Hopkinton will be the first in Massachusetts to go to class without a mask in an experimental trial run next month.

Meanwhile, the mask mandate for most Massachusetts public schools was extended into January, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education announced last week.

The requirement for K-12 public schools will now last until at least Jan. 15, 2022. The deadline has previously been pushed back, after the mandate was issued in August.

In August, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education authorized Commissioner Jeff Riley to require masks for students age 5 and up and school staff through at least Oct. 1, and Riley on Sept. 27 extended the requirement another month.

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