By Ray King
With school set to begin in the White Hall School District on Monday, the school board has made the decision to require students, teachers, and others to wear masks at every school in the district for the first 60 days.
Superintendent Doug Dorris told Deltaplex Radio on Thursday the district will look at the numbers at the end of that period and see if the mask mandate can be dropped or needs to be continued.
During the last school year, about 80 percent of the students in the Pine Bluff School District attended class virtually. Only a small percentage of White Hall students did the same as most chose in-person learning.
Dorris was asked if there will be a virtual option this year.
Federal COVID money has allowed the district to purchase cameras and other electronic equipment so if a student is not able to be on-campus, the teacher can go live on Zoom with the lesson and let the student ask questions.
Dorris also explained his decision to require masks, even though he knew there would be opposition to the idea.