„We will continue just to work with local health officials and with CPS to determine the right course of action.“<\/b>
\nCHICAGO (CBS) \u2014 It is official. Masks off in classrooms this fall. But only for students and teachers who are vaccinated. CBS 2 Investigator Megan Hickey reports from Chicago Public Schools headquarters with more on the change. There are already questions as to how the policy will be reinforced. The state\u2019s health department and board of education said they\u2019re adopting the CDC\u2019s guidance. But so far, they haven\u2019t said exactly how they\u2019re going to verify whether students and teachers are vaccinated. \u201cNot only is it just simply easier to teach when you\u2019re able to see the visual cues, you\u2019re able to clearly hear what someone says. I think there\u2019s also a part of it, where you just feel happier and more hopeful that you\u2019re moving forward.\u201d On Friday, a sigh of relief from Noble Charter School\u2019s Operations Chief Michael Madden. He\u2019s getting ready to welcome 13,000 students back at the end of summer, some of them without masks. The Illinois Department of Education and the Illinois Board of Education said vaccinated teachers and students don\u2019t need to wear masks inside school buildings. But everyone else (over the age of two) will need to keep theirs on. How exactly can the schools in his district verify vaccination status? \u201cWe will continue just to work with local health officials and with CPS to determine the right course of action,\u201d Madden said. \u201cIt\u2019s important to us that we don\u2019t create a process that, that separates people over that creates an embarrassing (situation.) Or a situation or a place where people will be judged.\u201d Superintendent Michael Lubelfeld of North Shore School District 112 said he\u2019s also waiting for more guidance on how they\u2019ll be checking. But it could be through the school nurse. \u201cI do believe that our school nurses possess the access or have some availability of determining or ascertaining the number and the individual children who are, in fact, vaccinated,\u201d Lubelfeld said. The head of Indiana\u2019s Health Department, Dr. Kristina Box also passed that question on to school boards to make the final decision. \u201cI hope that they make those decisions. The superintendent and the school boards, with the consultation of their local public health and their elected officials,\u201d Box said. Madden said whatever the process, it will be carried out thoughtfully because they know there are plenty of students who aren\u2019t eligible or who won\u2019t be getting vaccinated for personal reasons. \u201cWe\u2019ve got all of the rest of the health and safety procedures that we\u2019ve had in place for the last 18 months inside of our schools,\u201d Madden said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s really this layering effect this combination of things.\u201d Ultimately, Lubelfeld said, the decision to continue masking will be up to parents. \u201cIf a family or if an employee still chose to wear a mask that will be completely permissible and fully up to them,\u201d he said. Lubelfeld said he plans to update his district on reopening procedures on July 20 so he hopes to have more details from the Illinois State Board of Education by then. Chicago Public Schools it\u2019s still reviewing the guidance but will update parents with any changes to opening guidance.<\/p>\n