Parents and guardians of students who attend the Catholic schools in Cochrane will need to remember to put a mask in their child's backpack.

All students, staff, and visitors at all schools in Calgary's separate school board will be required to wear masks indoors.

That includes Holy Spirit Catholic School and St. Timothy High School in Cochrane as they fall under the Calgary Catholic School District (CCSD).

In an email sent to families of students in the Calgary Catholic School District (CCSD), the board says the mask requirement applies from kindergarten through Grade 12, for at least the beginning of the year.

In a letter to parents, from Chief Superintendent Bryan Szumlas it said, "The decision was made after considering the increase of active COVID-19 cases in Alberta and, particularly in Calgary, vaccination rates for youth aged 12-19 and the fact that younger students do not yet have a vaccine available to them,"

School starts for the CCSD, in a staggered format on Wednesday, September 1.

The decision of the CCSD differs from Rocky View Schools' decision not to mandate masks on the return to classes on Tuesday, September 7.

The RVS population will have the choice as to whether they wear a mask or not.