Mask Mandate

An unfamiliar sight will greet teachers and students at Missoula County Public Schools on Monday; smiling faces.

Montana Governor Greg Gianforte called in to the KGVO Montana Morning News show on Wednesday to give an update on his first full year in office, and also answered questions from listeners.

MCPS Superintendent Rob Watson was on KGVO’s Talk Back show on Thursday and looked back at some of the successes achieved in the 2021 school year.

KGVO spoke to MCPS Superintendent Dr. Rob Watson on Friday regarding the letter he and all the other AA School Superintendents signed expressing ‘no confidence’ in State OPI Superintendent Elsie Arntzen.

Missoula District Court Judge Jason Marks heard arguments on Wednesday morning in the case of Stand Up Montana vs. Missoula County Public Schools on the matter of mandatory masking of students as a possible violation of the parents’ Constitutional rights.

The Missoula City County Health Department sent out a press release on Wednesday stating that several entities within the county still require masks.

Missoula City County Health Officer Ellen Leahy made it official on Monday: The mask mandate has been lifted, and the masks that were once required and now only recommended.

Missoula County is very close to reaching the 60 percent goal of changing the mask mandate to a recommendation, according to Health Officer Ellen Leahy.

Earlier this week, attorneys with Stand Up Montana and the Missoula City County Health Department met before District Judge Jason Marks to set a date for a hearing in a lawsuit challenging the ‘mask mandate’ set by Health Officer Ellen Leahy.

Despite the fact that Montana Governor Greg Gianforte announced that the statewide mask mandate will be allowed to expire on Friday, the mandate will remain in place in Missoula County, according to the City County Health Department.