Edmond Approves Mask Mandate Ahead Of Edmond Public Schools' Back To School Plans Meeting

Edmond's City Council officially passed a mask mandate, but it won't take effect for another month. 

There was not enough support to declare an emergency and put the mandate in place immediately. Instead, the mandate will take effect Aug. 26 and will run until Sept. 8.

The ordinance is similar to the mandate in place in Oklahoma City, but there are a few differences. Those include no exceptions for indoor religious services and no fee is mentioned as a possible punishment.

At Monday's city council meeting, before the decision was made, public comment was heated at times. Ultimately, the mandate did pass in a 3 to 2 vote.

This all happened just one day before the Edmond Public Schools is set to discuss their back to school plans. 

Those plans include numerous learning options, masks for staff and students, Pre-K through 12th graders, and temperature checks for kids.

The district's website said its goal is to start school in about two weeks on August 13.

All these topics were on the agenda for the board's last meeting, but, during that meeting, the state Board of Education released their new back to school guidelines. 

Edmond's Superintendent Bret Towne recommended the group table their discussion and schedule another meeting. He said he wanted to give all the members a chance to review the new state guidelines. 

At that same meeting, the superintendent said there may be a chance for a later start date. 

"It's important to let the public know as soon as possible how we were going to be restarting; and the possibility of a new school start date that could be pushed back a week or so, so the staff can prepare for distance learning," Towne said.

The board has already approved new a new transportation schedule and school start times.

The Edmond school board meeting starts at 4 p.m. Tuesday.