MISD Decides to Keep Mask Mandate in Place

Midland Independent School District will keep the mask mandate at all campuses for the time being.

According to NewsWest 9, the school board decided to table the vote after what they called a "spirited conversation" with citizens at the meeting on Monday night.

Local health recommendations were the reasons for the decision by the board along with the Texas Education Agency making its own guidelines after the governor lifted the mask mandate earlier this month.

The president of the school board, Bryan Murry, says he has received messages from both sides of the issue and now the board must make the decision.

"The TEA put the ball in the school district's court and so the trustees just wanted to have that discussion and open so we can have that information put out in the community and work through this because we definitely want to be transparent about the issue," Murry said.

When the mask mandate was lifted, the Texas Education Agency decided to let each district decide what their schools would do as far as mask wearing.

The TEA's Public Health Guidance was updated once the statewide mask mandate was lifted and under the updated guidance, a public school system can choose to keep the practices in place, or choose to eliminate it all together.

The TEA also updated surface cleaning requirements.

One thing that is really helping out is when the Department of State Health Services opened up vaccine eligibility to educators and school support staff right at the time the governor announced the mask mandate was lifted.

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