The White Oak ISD Board of Trustees decided to continue with the current guidelines that require students and staff to wear face coverings at school. Last week, the Texas Education Agency passed the responsibility of that decision to every school board in the state. However, TEA did not adjust their ‘Public Health Guidance’ and are still requiring contact tracing and so-forth.  If WOISD decided to make masks optional, any positive case could result in large numbers of student and staff quarantines.  We certainly know that not everyone will agree with the decision, but we want to do everything we can to provide a safe environment for our teachers, staff and students.

While all of us are tired of wearing face coverings and ready to get back to ‘normal’, we do feel like this is the most responsible decision at this time. We will continue to monitor the number of COVID cases on our campuses and in our area (particularly the time period after spring break), continue with the vaccine program for our staff, and will address the topic again at a later date. It is our desire to loosen mitigation protocols, in a safe fashion, as soon as is feasible.

White Oak ISD students and staff have done an amazing job of following the current guidelines to help prevent the spread of the virus, keep school in session, and continue many of the programs and activities for our students. We could not have done it without the support from the parents and community! We thank you for that and appreciate it more than you know. We have all worked together to get through this pandemic and hopefully we get back to ‘normal’ very soon.