Dear KFCS Community,
The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) has announced that it will lift mask requirements for indoor public spaces and Oregon’s schools on March 19. This announcement moves the original date forward by almost two weeks.
Once the mandate ends on March 19, the Klamath Falls City Schools plans to make masks optional in our schools. Students and staff who wish to continue wearing them are welcome to do so and will be supported in their choice.
Current modeling from Oregon Health and Sciences University (OHSU) indicates that hospitalizations will fall below 400 or fewer Oregonians per day by March 19, a level the state experienced before the arrival of the Omicron variant in Oregon.
Over the past several days, ODE and OHA have been engaging with local school and public health officials. These groups expressed a strong need to keep alignment between the dates for lifting the statewide face covering expectations in the K-12 settings with the lifting of the general indoor public spaces masking requirement. In addition, school and district leaders confirmed they can thoughtfully prepare for this transition by March 19 and take necessary actions to ensure students can safely remain in classrooms.
The district and our Board of Education have been advocating for local control since August. Most recently, the BOE passed their third resolution asking the governor and the state to return local control to schools earlier than the March 31 date they announced earlier this month. It appears that the collaboration amongst the 197 districts across Oregon have been successful in making that happen.
We will continue working closely with Klamath County Public Health officials to make decisions that are informed and in the best interest of our students, staff and schools.
Keith A. Brown, Superintendent
Klamath Falls City Schools
Every student, every day, whatever it takes!