Wearing masks inside Martin County Schools is still mandatory but not for much longer. School board members voted 4-1 Wednesday night to make masks optional beginning on June 1, after the current school year ends. Masks will be optional for graduation ceremonies and during summer school.

Thursday night, there was an increased police presence at the Palm Beach County school board meeting as members listened to seven hours of spirited testimony from parents about the school mask policy.
Parents made is clear they wanted masks to be an optional choice for their children and that the decision should be up to the parents not the school board.
Yet, the board still did change the mask mandate for the rest of the year.
They say making such changes is a process that takes weeks according to school board member Erica Whitfield.

In the end no decision was made but, the board asked Superintendent Dr. Donald Fennoy to send an e-mail to parents explaining children do not have to wear masks outside, and to immediately allow children to play on playgrounds, which he agreed to.

Last week, Superintendent Dr. Donald Fennoy announced face masks will be optional for the 190,000 students next school year, but will still be required for the remainder of the current academic year, which ends on June 18.