Less than a week into its second semester, Richardson ISD plans to put a temporary mask requirement in place beginning Jan. 10 for all students, personnel and visitors due to the recent increase in COVID-19 cases in the district.
The mask requirement will be in place through the end of January, at which time officials will assess pandemic conditions to determine whether it needs to continue, according to the RISD website.
“This decision was made because of an unprecedented rise in positive cases among students and employees,” Interim Superintendent Tabitha Branum said in a statement. “We continue to focus on the goal of keeping our schools open for in-person teaching and learning, and this is a necessary step if we hope to keep our students learning in school.”
The district's COVID-19 dashboard, which was last updated Jan. 7, lists 913 active cases among students and 278 active cases among staff members. Those totals amount to 2.45% of district students and 3.82% of staff members, according to the dashboard. Since the district began collecting data for this school year on Aug. 2, 2,803 students and 705 employees have been diagnosed with the virus.
