Newhall School District board members voted unanimously Tuesday to ask the California Department of Public Health to provide new face-covering guidance to give the district discretion over whether to make masks optional. The motion comes on the heels of a number of districts that have had to answer questions from families and staff about the mask policies that will be in place for the coming year. As of Thursday, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and California Department of Public Health did not specifically request distancing between students while in the classroom, but did require masks indoors. The motion approved by the Newhall district’s governing board formally requests that the district be given discretion to decide its own optional mask-wearing policies, saying that it would give “voice to the desires expressed by many district teachers, families and students.”