On May 3, the Cape Girardeau School District will drop its mask mandate until the end of the 2020-2021 year for elementary school children as long as they remain in their same cohorts.

However, there will be no change at the secondary level — middle school and high school — where the mandate will stay in place.

"I did a lot of soul searching after looking at the data and I don't want to do anything that would possibly require students to have to miss end-of-year events, like graduation," superintendent Neil Glass told the board Monday night.

If the May 23 graduation can be held outdoors, Glass said, there will be no limit on attendance and Tiger Stadium can be filled to capacity, if needed.

If inclement weather forces the ceremony indoors to Central's Junior High Auditorium, graduates will be limited to four tickets apiece.

There are no active cases, either among students or staff, currently in the district.

Paul Cairns, the board's newest member and the top vote-getter in the April 6 municipal election, asked whether school administrators had examined the policies in the Saxony Lutheran and Woodland school districts, which he said were "less rigorous" regarding COVID-19 than for Cape Girardeau schools.

Glass said summer school will not require masks in what he called "a pilot approach" to resuming normal operations, while noting teachers and staff will continue to encourage hand-washing and the use of sanitizer.

"We are hoping to be back to normal and unmasked for the 2021-2022 year. I'm very optimistic, but we'll keep watching the (COVID) numbers in the county," Glass said.

Cairns lauded local vaccine distribution efforts.

"We're blessed to have great vaccination distribution in this market and access to PPE (personal protective equipment)," he said, noting the pandemic may result in a long-term change of behavior.

"We're learning how to protect ourselves against all sorts of communicable diseases," Cairns said.

The first day of class for students in the fall is scheduled Aug. 25.

The Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center dropped its mask mandate March 8, instead "strongly recommending" residents use face coverings.