LINCOLN COUNTY, N.C. — The Lincoln County Board of Education voted 4-2 Tuesday night to make masks optional in schools once again, effective Sept. 29.
Students and staff will need to be on school grounds for in-person learning unless they are COVID-19 positive or have a written quarantine order from the health department.
Lincoln County now joins Union County as the only two North Carolina counties in the WCNC Charlotte viewing area to not have any mask mandate for students or staff.
District leaders also passed new quarantine protocols Tuesday, which went into effect immediately. Lincoln County students and staff will now no longer have to quarantine unless they are positive for COVID-19, symptomatic or have a quarantine order from the health department.
The decision comes just one day after Lincoln County Schools confirmed to WCNC Charlotte the district was mourning the loss of a third-grade teacher who family members said died from complications from COVID-19, 44-year-old Cruceta Jeffeirs.
“Ms. Jeffeirs brought energy and enthusiasm to our school. She was greatly respected by everyone," Battleground Elementary Principal Tracy Eley said in a statement.
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