New for this Year’s Back-to-School Shopping List: Face Masks

Below the requests for highlighters, colored pencils and glue sticks, past the descriptions of spiral notebooks, two-pocket folders and three-ring binders, is a newly added line on many school supply lists for the 2020-21 academic year—one that illustrates just how much the world has changed since spring. The new line item goes by “face masks,” “fabric masks,” “cloth masks” or “face coverings.” Whatever term is used, the overall message is clear: Many schools and districts, whether by their own choice or by a decision handed down from the state, will be encouraging—and in some cases requiring—that students and staff wear face masks when they return to their school buildings in the fall. Read More