EXCELSIOR SPRINGS – The Board of Education started the new school year with concern about the resurgence of COVID-19, spurred by the Delta variant, which did attack students, but as numbers are falling, the board Monday adjusted the focus on masks. Effective Nov. 15, mask requirements will be relaxed as justified on a buildingby-building basis. Deputy Superintendent Jaret Tomlinson told the board the district’s COVID team discussed justification to relax mask rules, based on numbers, actions by other districts and compliance with the Clay County Health Department. “We have four or five positives right now. ... I think we have another four maybe in quarantine total in the distict, somewhere in that ballpark. It’s pretty darned low, and we’ve seen that consistently throughout the last few weeks,” Tomlinson said. Social distancing within district facilities has been instrumental in driving down COVID-19 cases within district schools, b...