State officials say that when local schools open their doors in the fall, teachers and students should expect to wear face coverings while in the classroom, but exactly how strictly Long Beach Unified and other school districts will hold to that rule remains less clear.

The mask mandate comes from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), which released its COVID-19 Public Health Guidance for K-12 Schools this week. However, how those rules are to be enforced at the local level remains to be seen.

LBUSD spokesperson Chris Eftychiou reiterated the district’s commitment to resume in-person instruction this fall but said specifics about how the district will apply the CDPH’s guidelines on district campuses are still a work in progress.

“We’re committed to full-time, in-person instruction when the new semester begins,” said Eftychiou. “We appreciate that the newest guidance supports our commitment to in-person learning. As we approach the Aug. 31 start of the new school year, we’ll continue monitoring masking guidance in partnership with Long Beach Health and Human Services before establishing more specific protocols.”

The original protocols released by the CDPH on Monday indicated that schools should “provide a face covering to students who inadvertently fail to bring a face covering to school to prevent unnecessary exclusions.” If the students refused to wear the mask, they were to be sent home.

The guidance went on to state that schools should “offer alternative educational opportunities for students who are excluded from campus because they will not wear a face covering.”

But within hours of releasing the guidance, officials changed course. The CDPH tweeted: “California’s school guidance will be clarified regarding masking enforcement, recognizing local schools’ experience in keeping students and educators safe while ensuring schools fully reopen for in-person instruction.”

Speaking after an event in Los Angeles Tuesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom downplayed the reversal, saying enforcement of mask-wearing has “always been a local responsibility.”

“All (the Department of Public Health) did was clarify that local responsibility, which is consistent with all the prior rule-making that has been in effect on mask-wearing going back to last year,” Newsom said.

But Troy Flint, spokesman for the California School Boards Association, said the updated rule “is a huge difference in terms of how districts would operate and how the public is going to receive this guidance.”

The rules could also force districts into some tough decisions on enforcement in light of a new law Newsom signed last week. While schools are required to resume in-person instruction, the new law says schools must let students work from home if their parents or guardians say coming to school poses a health risk for them.

If schools decide to send students home for refusing to wear a mask, Flint said they would be “obligated to provide independent study in a really robust way that asks more of the district than has been done in the past.”

When asked how these rules would be enforced in Long Beach, whether masks would be supplied for students and what might happen to students who are unwilling to follow the masking guidelines, Eftychiou said the school district was still working on its plan for the upcoming school year.

“We are planning for most of our students to return in person on Aug. 31, but we’ll also offer an online option for families who choose that environment,” Eftychiou stated. “This week has shown that the masking guidance can shift quickly. Given that we’re still 48 days out from our first day of school, we’ll need to continue monitoring the guidance and consulting with our local health department before ironing out further details.”

Associated Press writer Adam Beam contributed to this report.

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