BUTLER TWP — In tandem with masks no longer being required on school buses, Butler Area School District also will stop contact tracing COVID-19 cases in its schools.

Superintendent Brian White said at Monday’s school board meeting that unless there is a spike in COVID cases in a school or class, the district will not pursue contact tracing of those who test positive. Assistant superintendent Brian Slamecka has been the administrator in charge of contact tracing in the school district.

“If we see three kids in a classroom that have COVID, we’re going to call home to let the parents know,” White said. “We are required to tell (the state) how many COVID cases we have a week.”

While the school board did not have to vote to update the health and safety plan to fit with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations, White said the language under “masks” would reflect the ending of masks being required on school buses. The language will now say masks are optional at Butler Area School District.

Also at the meeting, the board voted to contribute $1,936,672 to the Butler County Area Vocational-Technical School for its 2022-23 school year operating budget. This is an increase of $138,943 from last year.

Prior to their vote on the budget for the vo-tech school, board members heard a presentation from its executive director, Regina Hiler, at its Committee of the Whole meeting.

The vo-tech Joint Operating Committee voted at its Feb. 2 meeting on the 2021-22 budget. The total operating budget came to $6,305,884, which had a total increase of $230,595 compared to the 2021-22 budget.

Each participating public school district in Butler County budgets money to fund the vocational-technical school because each district has students who attend it.