Broken Arrow School Board To Vote On Back-To-School Plan, Mask Requirement

Broken Arrow Public Schools’ Board of Education is meeting now to vote on the district’s back to school plan, which includes a mask requirement for some students.

The meeting has been going on for more than three hours, and board members have not voted yet.

The proposal for a mask requirement is for students grades 3-12, along with all staff.

Younger children would not be required to wear a mask.

The plan presented to the board is for Broken Arrow to start school August 19th, if on August 10th the specific zip codes where the Broken Arrow school district falls are not in what’s known as the “red level,” set by the state COVID Alert system, which is more than 50 cases per 100,000.

We are still waiting for clarity on this because leaders also discussed the number of 14 cases per 100,000 being a reason to shift to distance learning.

The bottom line is that the district will not base its decision on Tulsa or Wagoner county numbers.

Under the proposed plan, district leaders also talked about what determines when a single classroom would close, and when an entire school would close.

Superintendent Dr. Janet Vinson says when 30% of classrooms in a school have an infected student, it’s time to close that site for 14 days, for a total of 10 instructional days where the students would shift to distance learning.

District leaders also talked about meals, transportation protocols, athletics, and band, so there’s a lot to consider before things wrap up here with a vote.

The deadline to sign-up for Virtual Learning in BA is August 5th, which is one week from Wednesday.