Adjustments to K-12 school policies on face masks and teen driving and CPR requirements due to the coronavirus pandemic received final approval by the North Carolina legislature on Wednesday.
The provisions are within a compromise bill worked out by the House and Senate and designed to address more public school rules during the outbreak. The final bill received near-unanimous support and now heads to Gov. Roy Cooper's desk.
The bill says each public school unit must adopt a policy this school year on the use of face coverings by students and workers and vote at least monthly on whether to modify it.
Local school districts already have been strongly encouraged by Cooper and state health officials to approve face mask mandates indoors this fall. The overwhelming number of the state's 115 districts have approved such mandates.
The bill also says the high school graduation requirement that students receive CPR instruction has been waived for the past school year if COVID-19 prevented such instruction. And the measure also waives temporarily a requirement that a student must be found to be making progress toward a diploma to receive driving privileges.
