08/31/2021
Governor Wolf Issues New Mask Mandate for K-12
Dear Members,
Gov. Tom Wolf announced today that his administration is reinstating a statewide mask mandate for all Pennsylvania K-12 schools in response to a resurgence in COVID-19 cases statewide. The governor said the new COVID-19 masking order, which is was issued by the Department of Health today, will begin on Sept. 7, 2021 and will require students, teachers and school staff to wear masks while inside both public and private schools in the Commonwealth.
Earlier this year, Gov. Wolf had ruled out a mask mandate for Pennsylvania schools, instead leaving the decisions on masks to locally run school boards. Now, the Wolf administration changed course on masking for schools. Last week, the governor attempted to address masking through legislative action, calling on the General Assembly to come back to Harrisburg and pass a universal masking mandate for schools in the Commonwealth. Republican leaders, who control both the state House and Senate, did not act on the governor’s request.
Masking has been a contentious issue for school boards throughout the state to tackle. Some districts have reinstituted mask mandates on their own, while others have not yet taken that step.
