{"id":44982,"date":"2021-08-27T02:17:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-27T08:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ignacio-to-start-school-without-masks-on-buses-violating-federal-order\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:22:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:22:41","slug":"ignacio-to-start-school-without-masks-on-buses-violating-federal-order","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ignacio-to-start-school-without-masks-on-buses-violating-federal-order\/","title":{"rendered":"Ignacio to start school without masks on buses, violating federal order"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"The
The Ignacio School District announced new quarantines this week after two students reportedly tested positive for COVID-19, the district announced Wednesday.<\/span>Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Ignacio School District will not require masks to be worn on school buses when school starts Monday, a violation of a federal order.<\/p>\n

The school district\u2019s return-to-school plan encourages students to wear face coverings on buses. The federal order, issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, requires masking on buses in districts across the United States. The district might discuss the policy during its Board of Education meeting Sept. 9, two weeks after school starts, said Superintendent Chris deKay.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to continue to talk with the board about it, and the need for it to be on the agenda,\u201d deKay said. \u201cThe current plan has already been approved by the board so any change to that plan is going to have to come through them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bayfield School District also started the school year earlier this week by flouting the order<\/a>. A split school board vote Tuesday night brought the district into compliance.<\/p>\n

San Juan Basin Public Health has issued a formal advisory recommending school districts require masks in schools. Advisories are the strongest recommendation the health agency can make without issuing an order.<\/p>\n

Durango School District 9-R decided to require masks in schools, a controversial choice in the district. It is also following the federal order to require masks on buses. Bayfield recommends masks in schools and now requires them on buses.<\/p>\n

Ignacio suggests wearing masks when social distancing cannot be achieved. The district\u2019s transportation plan does not require masks on school buses. It expects parents to take their child\u2019s temperature before leaving the house, according to the district\u2019s plan.<\/p>\n

Students must sit two per seat on the school bus and are not allowed to change seats while riding the bus. Those who live in the same residence will be asked to sit together.<\/p>\n

The district\u2019s plan was approved by the school board in June when COVID-19 case rates were less concerning, deKay said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe approved it knowing it was a flexible document,\u201d he said. \u201cAs delta started to take hold, we understood the landscape might shift.\u201d<\/p>\n

The federal order, issued by the CDC, went into effect Feb. 1. It requires masks on all public transport options with some exceptions, such as for eating, health issues and identification purposes.<\/p>\n

The school districts all received guidance from the Colorado Department of Education, which included clear information about the CDC order for face coverings on buses, said Chandler Griffin, SJBPH spokesman.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe districts are expected to comply,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are currently looking into how this would be enforced, as the CDC order is outside of SJBPH\u2019s regulatory sphere.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeKay said the district school board was aware of the compliance issue. No special meeting has been scheduled to discuss the policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve met extensively,\u201d he said. \u201cThey (board members) see the landscape shifting. I don\u2019t know if they want that on the agenda for the next board meeting or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

The school district emphasized keeping safety protocols in place to maintain in-person learning. But masking is a divisive subject in the district, and nationwide, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cQuite honestly there\u2019s just a lot of divisiveness in the country right now, and both sides are very emotional about their perspective,\u201d deKay said. \u201cWe\u2019re doing our best to navigate those waters and bring kids back to school in person.\u201d<\/p>\n

SJBPH was \u201csurprised\u201d to hear local school districts were not in compliance with the order.<\/p>\n

SJBPH has advised school districts on in-person learning policies related to COVID-19, such as quarantining and isolation, testing and other public health precautions; however, the districts are no longer required to submit their plans to SJBPH for review and approval, Griffin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe continue to work closely with the districts to ensure their school environments are as safe as possible,\u201d he said. \u201cThe deepest dives occur on the matters we need to actively collaborate with the districts on, like contact tracing, for example. But it is the school district\u2019s responsibility to follow the CDE guidance, including CDC orders contained therein.\u201d<\/p>\n

smullane@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Plata County school district to dodge mandate<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[155,28,1235],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-44982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-education","tag-headlines","tag-ignacio"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44982"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86298,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44982\/revisions\/86298"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44982"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=44982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}