Fluvanna Co. Public Schools make masks optional and get rid of contact tracing

FLUVANNA COUNTY, Va. (WVIR) – Students in Fluvanna County will no longer be required to wear masks when attending school. This comes after a 3-2 vote by the school board on Thursday, January 27.

The motion that was passed also stops contact tracing in schools.

“I will be moving a motion to make masks optional and stop all contact tracing within our school system,” said board member Andrew Pullen.

The school board was supposed to talk about the budget, but added a COVID-19 mitigation section at the end of the agenda. This brought out many parents who wanted choice when it came to masks.

“We parents want our rights. I believe we can all say we are parents first, regardless of our opinions or political positions,” one person said.

Some students came to the meeting who wanted the masks to stay.

“Me being a student, I am afraid every day to go to school surrounded by students, because everyone comes to school sick with symptoms and no one wants to wear their mask. just don’t wear properly,” said a Fluvanna County High School student.

In the end, the council voted 3 to 2 to make masks optional.

“I think it’s up to the parents to make that decision,” said board member Charles Rittenhouse.

The close vote was reflected in comments from board members.

“The contactless search addendum has to be the most reckless decision this council has ever made, and it has literally left us with almost minimal or no mitigation,” council chair Dr. James Kelley said.

“People making a choice and wanting to make a choice is fine, but we’re getting into a group of other people where kids don’t want to make grandmas sick,” Gequetta Murray-Key said, Member of the Board of Directors.

School board member Perrie Johnson, who voted to make masks optional, said if Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s executive order is overturned by the court, she would be the first to call a special meeting to reconsider the mask issue.

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