Following specific guidance from the Pennsylvania Department of Education, Lehighton Area School District’s board of directors updated its 2020-21 health and safety to plan Monday night to require students to wear masks at all times inside its buildings, with limited exceptions.

Lehighton’s initial back-to-school plan called for students to be able to remove their masks in a classroom setting when 6 feet or more apart.

“Unfortunately that has changed,” board President Larry Stern said during Monday’s meeting.

A letter from PDE earlier this month informed districts that the American Academy of Pediatrics released an update to their guidance strongly recommending children age 2 and older should wear face coverings at all times to help mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

Exceptions are when students are eating or drinking when spaced at least 6 feet apart, wearing a face covering creates an unsafe condition in which to operate equipment or execute a task, or at least 6 feet apart during “face-covering breaks” to last no longer than 10 minutes.

Director David Bradley voted against updating the health and safety plan, saying there are no consequences associated with students not meeting those mask mandates.

“It doesn’t make sense to have a rule with no accountability,” he said.

Stern, however, said there would be disciplinary action taken when students do not comply with the requirement.

“That is outlined in the student handbooks for this year,” he said.