Georgetown ISD will continue to require all students, staff and visitors to wear a mask while on campus or in a facility, Superintendent Fred Brent said in a March 5 letter to families.

"We care about our people and this community. Any action we take will not satisfy everyone, and I hope you understand that every decision we make is with the best interest of the community we serve," he said.

Brent added his concern is the premature decision to remove masks could be detrimental to the health of staff and students and the district's desire to keep schools open.

Brent said the district made the decision to keep the mask mandate due to the following factors:

• All district employees have not yet had access to the vaccine nor have they completed the vaccination cycle.
• The highest rates of COVID-19 infection in GISD have followed an extended break, and spring break as well as a four-day weekend in April are all around the corner.
• There are 11 weeks left in the school semester.
• GISD is one of the only districts in the Central Texas area that has not been forced to close a campus this school year due to a high concentration of cases.
• GISD has been able to keep athletics, music performance and other extracurricular activities competing at a high level with very few events being canceled or postponed because of GISD cases.

"I do believe that our ability to keep schools open and allow students to participate in activities they care about has been largely possible because of our collective adherence to our safety protocols," Brent said.