Arlington Public Schools will require all students and staff to wear masks when they return to the classroom this fall — regardless of COVID-19 vaccination status.
The announcement from the school system follows the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's updated guidance that everyone wear masks inside schools.
Masks will be required while inside all public school buildings and on school buses, but are not required when eating or when outside during recess, PE, athletics or other activities, APS says on its website.
Teachers also do not have to wear masks when they are in a closed office without students present.
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Arlington schools will not do temperature checks or screening on the bus or when children arrive at school, but the school system says it will continue to remind families of the symptoms to watch for at home and to keep students home when they're sick.
School officials will implement physical distancing as much as possible in schools, but "distancing consistently will not be possible," APS said. "Masking and other strategies will help protect the school community in classrooms and spaces where distancing is not possible."
Arlington is the latest district in the D.C. region to require face masks for all students and staff.
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See here for a full list of where masks and vaccines are required in the D.C. area
