ALLENDALE, Mich. — Allendale Public Schools plans to make most COVID-19 safety procedures voluntary for the 2021/2022 school year, according to Superintendent Dr. Garth Cooper.
The news was made in a letter to state officials earlier this month.
In the letter, all of the following safety measures were listed as optional:
- Masks
- Vaccination for students and staff (with signed waiver)
- Testing on student athletes
- Contact tracing (only required among family members)
Dr. Cooper cites low positivity rates among students, leading to 12,000 days of instruction lost to quarantine during the previous school year.
“Allendale Public Schools is prepared to make decisions based on our data, which will keep students and staff safe,” Dr. Cooper writes. “These decisions are too big and too important to be made with a broad brush, with little to no consideration for local circumstances.”