Scott City School District extends mask mandate; Chaffee School District initiates one

During a meeting Wednesday described by Board of Education president Gary Miller as "vocal," the Scott City School District board voted to extend the current mask mandate at the "Orange" level until the board meets again Oct. 20.

Michael Umfleet, in his third year as superintendent, told the Scott City Area Chamber of Commerce on Thursday the mandate was originally put in place after Labor Day when 115 students in the 762-pupil district were in COVID-19 quarantine.

"We're now down to 20 (in quarantine)," said Umfleet, who has worked for the district for 27 years.

"Nobody likes wearing masks, we're trying to get back to normal, and our goal is to keep schools open and students in their seats."

Scott City School District's Return-to-School plan is divided into four color codes.

• Green represents normal operations with no restrictions.
• Yellow means a "moderate" risk of COVID transmission with masks highly recommended.
• Orange means a "high" risk with masks required.
• Red means a "very high" risk with all students transferring to distance learning.

Chaffee Schools

Superintendent Brad Blackman announced a temporary mask mandate started Wednesday in the 672-pupil Chaffee School District in Chaffee, Missouri.

Blackman, in a letter addressed to students and families on the district's website, called the move to implement face coverings a "collaborative" decision aimed at keeping students in schools and lessen the chance of quarantine.

"Chaffee School District has had to quarantine over 170 students grades PK-12 since the start of the school year. We understand the learning loss that this creates for students and the extra burden that this places on working parents. When students are masked, the regulations to quarantine are drastically reduced, and more students will be allowed to stay in school if they are healthy," Blackman's letter stated.

Blackman said Chaffee administrators will continue to monitor health data coming from the Scott County Health Department.

"Currently, Scott County is number two in the state for positive cases with a positivity rate of 33.5% with 169 of those cases being between the ages of 0-18," Blackman said.