Tamaqua Area School District approved a new health and safety plan which eliminates the need for masks on school buses.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently updated its mask requirements. People are no longer required to wear masks on buses or vans operated by public or private school systems. The change was made at the same time the CDC said that if an area has low or medium levels of COVID, it no longer recommends universal indoor mask wearing in K-12 and early childhood education settings. As of Wednesday, the COVID community level in Schuylkill County was medium, according to the CDC.

Superintendent Ray Kinder said the district already allowed students to go maskless on the bus before the change to the health and safety plan.

The district started the school year without a requirement for masks in school or on buses. In October they required parents to submit an exemption form if students didn’t want to wear masks.

In other business

The school board also:

• Announced it will create a fund for donors to contribute to purchase bulletproof vests for the school’s police officers.

• Approved a student’s Eagle Scout project involving constructing a table and slab of concrete at Tamaqua Elementary School.

• Hired Randy G. Clemson and Chad Snyder as full-time custodians at $9.25 per hour.

• Approved the 2022-23 budgets for Schuylkill Technology Center and Schuylkill Intermediate Unit 29.

• Authorized a student living outside the district to attend school for the 2022-23 school year with a tuition cost to be determined.

• A budget presentation originally scheduled for Tuesday night will take place March 22 at 7 p.m.