POLAND — All students in the Poland Local School District now are required to wear masks in the buildings.

The announcement was made by Superintendent Craig Hockenberry on Wednesday who said the mandate for the high school is similar to the one in place for students in kindergarten to sixth grade.

“In an effort to keep our students in school, the Poland Local School District is issuing that masks are mandatory at Poland Seminary High School starting Thursday,” Hockenberry said in a statement. “Much like our K-6 guidelines, the mask mandate is effective indoors during instructional hours … if students are in close contact to a positive COVID-19 case, seventh- to 12th-grade students will no longer be required to quarantine due to the mask mandate …”

According to the school system’s website, as of Wednesday night, 19 students in the district have tested positive for COVID-19, including 15 at the high school, three in the middle school and one in the elementary school. One staff member in the high school also has tested positive.

For those students in quarantine, 99 students are not in school after coming in contact with someone who has tested positive. Ninety-six of those students are in the high school, and three are in the middle school. Hockenberry said he is “almost positive” more cases will be added today. He said masking students was the only option to keep students in school.

“We were out of options and we do understand the passion on both sides,” Hockenberry said. “We were out of options if we wanted to keep the kids in school. If we didn’t act immediately, we were looking at more than 200 kids being out of school by the end of next week, according to our projections.”

Just over two weeks ago, the Poland Board of Education approved a plan that had only K-6 students wearing masks and those students in grades 7 to 12 were recommended to wear them. Hockenberry told The Vindicator at the time he was “given authority and flexibility to make changes as needed.”

He also said Sept. 20 was when the mandate for the students K-6 would be revisited. Now, Hockenberry said he will look at the entire district and make decisions based on the data processed in the interim.

“On the 20th, we have to make a decision, and we will align the schools together and make a decision then. We will look at data from all our schools and use the data we get from our nurses and health officials and then make an informed decision,” he said. “It will all be based on the health and safety of the kids. It’s our goal to keep the kids in school.”

For the time being, Hockenberry implored families in the district to keep sick students home.

“We’re urging parents that if their children are sick to stay home and practice good hygiene like handwashing,” he said.

The next board of education meeting is Sept. 20 and a decision will “surely be made then,” Hockenberry said.

nhawthorne@tribtoday.com