Medford School District looks ahead to new face covering requirements for kids

Medford School District looks ahead to new face covering requirements for kids

Schools.

Now all students 5 and older have to wear a face mask, face covering or face shield.

Newswatch 12's leah thompson is reporting from home.

Today she talked to superintendent bret champion from the medford school district about the state's new mask rule for students.

A big question a lot of parents have.

Is how do we make sure kids in elementary school keep the mask on all day.

Most first graders, keep in mind are only 6 years old.

Well that's why i talked to superintendent dr bret champion today.

Besides face masks, he says the school will also be providing face shields.

With younger learners especially, he says teachers need to see student's mouths when it comes to learning how to read.

His team is also figuring out a way to have mask breaks.

Where kids can safely take them off.

On top of that, he has also talked with schools in california that have already required these younger students to wear face masks.

What happened is the kids have gotten more use to it and it's not as.

It's really hard to keep it on whenever you're first wearing it.

You know even as adults the more we wear them.

The more comfortable we become with it.

And that's true for kids too.

Another plan the medford school district is working on is limiting how many people each student is exposed to in a day.

The guidelines from o-d-e want to keep that number to 100.

Dr. champion says it's estimated kids interact with 30 on a bus, 20 in a class, and 20 for an after school program.

That's already 70.

His team is going to find out how it can make that number even lower.

Coming up tonight on newswatch 12 at 6.

I talked to a medford school district parent.

She has three kids in the school system.

And she says all three will be doing medford online learning this