The Texarkana Arkansas School Board took an important - and, considering public opinion these days, courageous - vote last week to continue the requirement that staff, students and visitors wear face masks while indoors on campus.
The vote keeps the district will, for now, continue to follow Center for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines to help contain the spread of COVID-19..
So far this year TASD has seen 106 students and 17 staff members test positive for the virus.
"We realize wearing a mask is not popular, and no one prefers wearing masks. But we would definitely prefer keeping our students and staff healthy," said Superintendent Dr. Becky Kesler.
The mask mandate will be re-evaluated on a monthly basis.
We applaud the board for this decision. We understand the mandate may be controversial. But no matter how you feel about masks, it's important to take every possible precaution to protect our young people from COVID-19. We are glad to see the TASD board agrees.
And we hope parents - even those who oppose mandatory face masks - see how important this is not just for their own children, but to protect other students as well.