After a year of remote or hybrid learning, several districts across the Hudson Valley headed back to the classroom today.
Westlake Middle High School Campus in Thornwood was bustling with students, parents, teachers, and staff as they kicked off the new school year.
Westlake isn't the only district heading back to class today in the Hudson Valley as Mount Pleasant, Clarkstown, Peekskill, and Pearl River also started school today.
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Masks are among the essential school supplies this year, after Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a state mandate for masks in all of New York's schools.
Mount Vernon and Peekskill school officials had already made the decision to mask up.
This comes as the highly contagious delta variant continues to spike COVID-19 cases throughout New York.
Hochul says she will consider lifting the mask mandate if communities have low virus numbers and high vaccination rates.