Oak Ridge Schools have new face-covering order

The Oak Ridge School District in northwestern Cape Girardeau County implemented a mask mandate Monday and will continue the policy for students in the second through 12th grade until further notice.

The mandate is in effect only during the normal school day.

The 348-student district has exempted pre-K, kindergarten and first-grade pupils from the face-covering order.

"Before, the Board of Education said masks were recommended, but now it's clear to all what the expectations are," said Adrian Eftink, who has been Oak Ridge superintendent for six years, adding the student body has been "pretty good" about masking.

Oak Ridge had switched to distance learning for five school days leading up to Thanksgiving break, citing what school officials called "an exponential increase in the number of positive (coronavirus) referrals and quarantining cases of staff and students."

"We have had to shut down (the district) twice already," said Eftink, noting a 10-day shutdown on campus this fall for junior and senior high students and a separate seven-day cessation of in-person classes for K-12 pupils.

Student discipline protocols went into effect Tuesday. First offense for non-mask wearing is a warning; second offense results in a warning and a parental phone call; with a third offense, a student must go home until willing to mask or the student can take advantage of the virtual-learning option.

Eftink said the school board will meet Tuesday to revisit the order.

The last day of classes in the district before Christmas is Dec. 17.