SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KTXL) — For the first time in about two years, the state of California let families choose whether their children wear masks at school or not, but some districts chose to keep masks mandatory.

Robla School District, a small school community in Northern Sacramento, went the way of most districts in the area and switched to optional masking at schools. 

“When the health authorities say that it is safe for people who chose to do so to take off their masks, then I feel like it wasn’t really a difficult decision for the Robla school board to support that,” said Superintendent Ruben Reyes. 

The community has high-risk factors for COVID-19 and it was hit disproportionately hard at different points in the pandemic. Reyes said the unmasking does not represent a complete return to normal, and they plan to continue being vigilant including offering 10 on-campus vaccine clinics over the next two months. 

“We think coinciding those vaccination clinics, along with the option to unmask, is a way to communicate to our community that we are going to try to provide the resources that they need to make them feel as safe as they can be,” Reyes said.