{"id":"MA-071","kind":"order","level":"state","jurisdiction":"Massachusetts","state":"MA","metro":"","industry":"","agency":"","eco":"","issuer":"Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Jeffrey C. Riley, under the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education\u0027s August 24, 2021 vote","authority":"603 CMR 27.08(1) (Student Learning Time regulations; \u0027exigent circumstances\u0027); G.L. c. 69, ss. 1, 1B, 1G; G.L. c. 71, ss. 1, 4A","instrument":"Implementation of DESE Mask Requirement","title":"DESE mask requirement for public school students and staff, 2021-22 school year","dateIssued":"2021-08-25","effective":"2021-08-25, immediately; \u0027until at least October 1, 2021\u0027","end":"Extended after October 1, 2021 (extension instruments not verified here)","startDate":"2021-08-25","endDate":"2021-10-01","quarters":["2021Q3"],"types":["SCH","MASK"],"addressees":["all public schools incl. charter, vocational-technical schools and collaboratives; approved private special education schools","students age 5 and above","all staff","visitors"],"clause":"At the special meeting of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (Board) on August 24, 2021, the Board voted to declare \u0022exigent circumstances\u0022 pursuant to the Student Learning Time (SLT) regulations, 603 CMR 27.08 (1), and authorized the Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education to require masks for public school students (age 5 and above) and staff in all grades through at least October 1, 2021.... Effective immediately, public school students (age 5 and above) and staff in all grades are required to wear masks indoors in schools, except as noted below.... As provided by the Student Learning Time regulations, each district must submit a plan confirming that their health and safety procedures are consistent with the mask requirement.... Submission of the survey response will be required no later than Friday, September 3, 2021. After October 1, 2021, if a school demonstrates a vaccination rate of 80% or more of students and staff in the school, then vaccinated individuals in that school would no longer be subject to the DESE mask requirement.","enforcement":"District plan submission under 603 CMR 27.08; local student discipline; \u0027By federal public health order, all students and staff are required to wear a mask on school buses\u0027","functions":["IN in-person instruction under masking","WF parents and school staff","TR school transport (federal order)","AC indoor athletics masked"],"notes":"DESE\u0027s August 20, 2021 release announced the Commissioner\u0027s request for authority and the Board\u0027s August 24 special meeting.","sourceUrl":"https://www.doe.mass.edu/covid19/on-desktop/2021-0825mask-requirement.pdf","snapshot":"https://web.archive.org/web/20210826004640/https://www.doe.mass.edu/covid19/on-desktop/2021-0825mask-requirement.pdf","fileExists":true,"fileBytes":63856,"grade":"primary","character":"","description":"","collection":"MA","url":"/library/MA-071","exhibitUrl":"/exhibit/MA-071","citation":"Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Jeffrey C. Riley, under the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education\u0027s August 24, 2021 vote, Implementation of DESE Mask Requirement (Aug. 25, 2021) (Ex. MA-071)","stateName":"Massachusetts","related":["AGY-ST-EDUCATION-HIGHER-ED-007","AGY-ST-EDUCATION-HIGHER-ED-048","AGY-ST-EDUCATION-HIGHER-ED-068"]}