San Antonio Standard

North East Independent School District (NEISD) will no longer require masks beginning June 5 per executive order issued by Gov. Greg Abbott in March. 

"Gov. Abbott’s executive order mandates that after June 4 masks will be optional. Therefore, NEISD will not require face coverings beginning June 5," NEISD Executive Director of Communications Aubrey Chancellor told the San Antonio Standard. 

The district posted on its social media page that this applies to all students, staff and visitors, but those who still wish to wear masks may continue to do so.

Chancellor said this past school year has been very successful in everyone following safety protocols, which will remain in place until the last day of school on May 28. 

"We have been successful this school year with our many safety protocols," Chancellor said, noting that a mask requirement was in place until the last day of school on May 28.

Any changes to the safety protocols for the school will happen after the summer session, and will be have to go through the Board of Trustees for approval, Chancellor said. 

"All of our current protocols expire after summer school. Therefore, if anything is implemented as far as safety changes, for the fall, that would need to be done through the Board of Trustees. Otherwise, it will return to what we have seen in the past," Chancellor told the San Antonio Standard. 

In a press release from the governor's office, Gov. Greg Abbott said it should now be up to Texans' to decide if they choose to wear masks without having to be forced to do so. 

"The Lone Star State continues to defeat COVID-19 through the use of widely available vaccines, antibody therapeutic drugs, and safe practices utilized by Texans in our communities," Abbott said in the release. "Texans, not government, should decide their best health practices, which is why masks will not be mandated by public school districts or government entities. We can continue to mitigate COVID-19 while defending Texans' liberty to choose whether or not they mask up."

In July of 2020, Abbott then instituted a mask mandate, requiring all Texans to wear a mask in public, which caused much confusion for some. In his first order, Abbott prohibited counties from mandating masks, but the order was very round-about and hinted at loopholes allowing counties to dismiss his order and continue to mandate masks, Texas Monthly reported.

Abbott's actions have been contrasted with those of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who rescinded most COVID-19 restrictions back in the fall. DeSantis did, however, allow localities to mandate masks, but neutered any ability they had to enforce any orders, NPR reported.

DeSantis has recently issue a new order that bans local governments from mandating masks two weeks before Abbott's order, but Florida did not apply this order to public schools. This is one major contract to Abbott's order, the Tampa Bay reported. 

ABC 13 recently reported that Texas has had zero COVID-19 deaths for the first time in 14 months.