(Portland, OR)  --  The president of the Portland Association of Teachers is applauding Governor Kate Brown's decision to require masks for students K-through-12 this fall.  Elizabeth Thiel called the decision "crucial and important" amid increasing cases of COVID-19.  The teachers union committed to masks this fall shortly after the CDC recommended that people, both vaccinated and unvaccinated, go back to masks indoors due to the highly contagious Delta variant.  Thiel says most parents of students have been supportive of the most recent mask initiative.