Pick a school district in Door and Kewaunee counties and you will find a number of different policies regarding masks this fall. Gibraltar Area Schools will still require its students and staff involved with grades kindergarten through sixth grade to wear masks in the classroom. Teachers working with medically fragile students and all visitors and volunteers at the school will also be required to wear a face covering. Gibraltar Superintendent Tina Van Meer says the decision was made because children under the age of 12 are not yet eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine and she believes it is the district’s responsibility to protect them until their parents can make the decision to have them vaccinated. Students in grades seven through twelve will have the option of wearing masks. Masks will be optional for students attending Washington Island, Algoma, Luxemburg-Casco, Sevastopol, Sturgeon Bay, and Southern Door School Districts.  New Southern Door Superintendent Christopher Peterson said earlier this month that the district is committed to providing a COVID-safe setting.

Kewaunee School District has not yet made a decision on protocols for masking this school year. That could potentially be made at a special board meeting this Tuesday. The Diocese of Green Bay announced on Tuesday that masking would be up to individual schools and parents. The growth of the Delta variant has put the school districts at odds with recent guidance from the Centers of Disease Control and American Academy of Pediatrics. Both organizations are recommending that all students are masked, regardless of vaccination status.