Masks to be required at Grand Forks public schools

Grand Forks, North Dakota – As the school year starts next week, the Grand Forks School Board has approved an indoor mask mandate for students and employees. It’s part of a plan to slow the spread of Covid-19 delta variant.

The decision of requiring mask, according to Superintendent Terry Brenner, was not an easy one to make.

When the Grand Forks Public Health dashboard returns to “green” or low risk for ten days in a row, the board will consider dropping the mask mandate.

Restricting outside visitors during lunch, physical distancing, faculty to maintain seating charts to assist with contract tracing, students eating lunch in pods to reduce transmission are among the others precautions.

The mandate was approved Friday on an 8-1 vote at a special meeting.