Parents and students are all clamoring for an update on what the Boise School District plans on doing regarding their mask mandate in schools. Surprisingly, it only took them about an hour to come to a decision.

Monday night, the Boise School District trustees went through a short testimony and debate discussing if they would be removing the current mask mandate in schools or if it would stay in place.

The original idea for the meeting was to lift the mask mandate. With the new Omicron variant of COVID-19 on the rise, the trustees decided that wasn't a wise decision. Trustee Beth Oppenheimer explains:

Just because we came out of Crisis Standards of Care does not mean that it’s good.

Now, this isn't a permanent decision. Officials say that the mandate rules will be reviewed again in mid-February. But based on how some of the trustees feel about the mask mandate, we wouldn't count on it going away anytime soon. Trustee Steve Schmidt sounds like he's a fan:

If everybody is wearing a mask, it is protecting the whole.

The trustees seem to be happy with their decision. Are parents? Not so much.

One parent laid it out pretty plainly:

We would like them to consider what other districts in Idaho and around the country are doing (or not doing) that are allowing them to keep their students in the classroom at higher rates without all of the sacrifices or extra burdens that are currently placed on families and staff.

For the record, many other school districts throughout Idaho do not have a mask mandate in place currently.

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