Starting on Monday, face masks are optional at public schools in Waterbury for students, teachers and staff.
The masks are optional in school buildings and on busses, though they are still recommended.
The Waterbury Board of Education made the decision on Thursday night after there was a drop in positive cases in the community and the school system.
The Waterbury superintendent said the district sent a survey to families and staff members.
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The survey found that students and parents were highly favoring keeping the masks and staff were highly favoring removing them.
She expects varying opinions and maybe some hesitation coming into school on Monday.
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“I understand both sides. I think this allows us to be able to choose what we believe is the very best for ourselves and for our students and our children," said Waterbury Superintendent of Schools Dr. Verna Ruffin.
The superintendent also said that they will continue to monitor cases in the district and will be keeping the same cleaning protocols in place.
“Any of the COVID effects or any variants that we might experience, we're going to continue to monitor that. We're going to keep our schools with the same sanitary cleaning protocols that we had since the very beginning," Ruffin said.
There are 19,000 students in the Waterbury public school district. Ruffin says a little less than 35 percent of them are vaccinated.
The district sent home COVID-19 tests for everyone to take this weekend before returning to school on Monday.
