August 24, 2021
The Virginian-Pilot
Just minutes after the Rockingham County school board meeting began, board members voted to end the meeting after some audience members would not put on a face mask. “I can ask the sheriff’s deputy to come in and enforce a public order or we can adjourn the public meeting,” school board chair Renee Reed said. The board approved the meeting’s agenda, held the Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of silence then adjourned. Superintendent Dr. Oskar Scheikl told WHSV that because this meeting was in a public school it falls under the governor’s mask mandate, which is why the board ended it.
WHSV
After just two weeks of classes COVID has already been an issue in area public schools this year. Waynesboro is reporting 15 total cases in schools as of Aug. 20, while Staunton is reporting nine cases. Students returned to in-person learning on Aug. 10 in both divisions. The News Leader has a dashboard on its website updating school COVID totals weekly. Augusta County Public Schools has yet to provide its numbers to The News Leader as of Monday morning, despite multiple requests.
UPDATE: Augusta County Schools released its COVID numbers Monday afternoon in an email to The News Leader. It also posted its own dashboard on the school division’s website.
News Leader