GREENSBORO, N.C. — Two school districts voted Tuesday night to lift their current mask mandates.
Randolph County Schools' Board of Education voted to make masks optional effective Nov. 15. The district said they will also discontinue contact tracing on the same date.
Davie County Schools also voted in favor of optional masks use at their Board of Education meeting. The mask policy change is immediate for students.
The change comes as U.S. health officials gave the final approval to Pfizer’s kid-size COVID-19 shot, a major expansion of the nation’s vaccination campaign.
The Food and Drug Administration already authorized the shots for children ages 5 to 11 — doses just a third of the amount given to teens and adults. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends who should receive FDA-cleared vaccines.
The announcement by CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky came only hours after an advisory panel unanimously decided Pfizer’s shots should be opened to the 28 million youngsters in that age group.
Millions of shots made by Pfizer and its partner BioNTech have already been shipped to states, doctors’ offices and pharmacies, to be ready for CDC's decision.
"I've been mask optional since the beginning, even before the school started," parent Timothy Brinkley said.
Brinkley is a parent of two. One is in pre-k and the other is a first-grader at Shady Grove Elementary in Davie County. He said he went to the board meeting Tuesday night when the decision was made.
"I don't think it's something that people should not have the option to do," Brinkley said. "I think if you as a family decide that is the best option for your safety by all means I think you should have that option. I don't however feel that it is something that should be a mandate."
Randolph County Schools also lifted its requirement. Mom Shannon Bullion said it's a topic some are still split on.
"It should be a preference if someone chooses to have their child wear a mask to school that's fine, but if there is a parent that feels that their child shouldn't for whatever reason, for me it should be the parent's decision," Bullion said.
Bullion said it hasn't been too hard to keep up with all the changes but hopes cases will stay down.
"I understand the pressure of the school system to do what they can to make sure we don't have these cluster cases and outbreaks, so I think we're all learning through this together," Bullion said.