Menominee Area Public Schools begins district-wide masking Thursday

MENOMINEE, Mich. (WLUC) - Students, faculty, staff and visitors begin required masking in all Menominee Area Public Schools Thursday.

In a letter sent Tuesday, Interim Superintendent Steve Martin says beginning Sept. 30, “all students, staff and visitors during the school day will need to wear a mask when inside district buildings.”

He says the change, decided during the Sept. 27 school board meeting, includes all Pre-K through 12th grade students.

“This is not a decision that was made easily, but the reality is that since the start of the school year, Menominee Schools have seen a high number of positive cases and close contacts that have resulted in 150 to 250 absences each day,” Martin said.

In the letter, Martin also noted some policies students should follow:

Students out on quarantine prior to Monday, Oct. 4, must finish quarantine under the previous guidelines (7 days, returning on day 8 with a negative test or stay home for 10 days)
Starting on Oct. 4, students who are considered a close contact (which is now three feet or less for over 15 non-consecutive minutes) can:
- Stay in school and agree to test daily for 7 days
- Stay home for 7 days, returning on day 8 with a negative test, or stay home for 10 days
- Information for parents interested in testing so their students can remain in school will be shared out soon.
Per health department guidelines:
- Students may remove masks during lunch and recess
- Students are not required to wear masks during athletic competitions or practices
- Masking is not required, but is recommended, for school sponsored sporting or extracurricular activities at this time
Masking remains a requirement when using district transportation

“We will continue to monitor the number of cases and absences within the school and change back to optional masking when the numbers decrease,” Martin says.

Read the entire letter from Martin here.