BATON ROUGE - The Louisiana Department of Education will no longer require schools to have students quarantine when they've potentially been exposed to COVID.

The department said it was providing schools across the state with the "parent choice option," which each school system can opt into. The new rule will allow parents of children defined by schools as having "close contact" to decide whether they stay in school or quarantine. 

Parents of any children who meet that criteria can also request a free COVID screening. 

The following school districts in the capital area have responded to the new guidelines so far. 

- Ascension Parish - will adopt parent choice option

- East Baton Rouge Parish - will NOT adopt parent choice option

- Livingston Parish - will adopt parent choice option

- West Baton Rouge Parish - will adopt parent choice option

“We can no longer ignore the unintended academic consequences of our students unnecessarily missing school,” State Superintendent Dr. Cade Brumley said. “This new, common-sense option empowers parents and local communities with the authority to make health-related decisions for their students.”

The department said the new parent choice option does not change how schools handle positive cases of the coronavirus among students.