KC Council approves extension of K-12 mask mandate

KC Mayor Quinton Lucas introduced a proposal at Thursday’s council meeting, recommending a two-week extension be placed on the current mask mandate for schools.

A majority vote approved the extension, which now requires all students, faculty, staff and visitors to wear a mask inside school buildings through Feb. 17. The original ordinance was first approved Jan. 6 with an expiration date of Feb. 3.

Under the ordinance, children younger than five or with an underlying medical condition or disability are not required to wear a mask in school facilities.

“My hope is that if our trend lines continue where cases are going down and hopefully we get to a point where there are fewer people in the hospitals, we might be able to get out of the mandate or order business entirely ,” Lucas said.

The proposal was crafted due to Lucas’ wish to align Kansas City, Mo. mandates with those in place in Johnson County, Kan.

“People should be free to choose how they want to live their life,” Kansas City, Mo. Councilwoman, Heather Hall, said. Hall voted against the original order last month and maintain her stance in yesterday’s vote. “City government does not run school boards, or school districts. School boards run school districts. They should make the decisions for their students and their staff and their teachers,” she said.