California mask mandate: It's fracturing student life
Anthony Pritchett, a senior at Nevada Union High, sat nervously at a school board meeting on Tuesday night as angry crowds yelled at each other over a vote to violate state law and lift the mask mandate for its students.
“There was just a lot of yelling,” he said. “It was very hostile. When the resolution was passed at the end, there was a roar of applause and yelling that lasted for at least a minute.”
As debates over mask and vaccine mandates heat up, the polarization is extending into student life in California. Students on both sides are being harassed for their beliefs, while education officials caught in the crossfire have to reconcile how to enforce COVID-19 protocols and provide an education to all students. Meanwhile, a Feb. 28 update from state officials about school masking policy looms.
“Friend groups have fractured over this,” said 18-yearold Pritchett, who serves as a student member on the board at Nevada Joint Union High School District, about 60 miles northeast of Sacramento.
“There's a lot of tension on campus,” he said. “There are
frequent protests and walkouts mainly in opposition to vaccines and masks.”
On Thursday, the 2,600-student district shut down schools because so many teachers called in sick in response to the vote. Making masks optional violated an agreement between the district and the teachers union, which states that any changes to safety protocols must be negotiated.
“The overwhelming message is that teachers don't feel supported,” said teachers' union president Eric Mayer. “They're given an impossible
decision to defy the board or defy state law.”
Nevada Joint Union High School District isn't the first in California to make masking indoors at school optional. Leaders at several other districts made the decision in recent weeks in response to growing anger from parents and community members, especially as the state lifted other mask mandates for vaccinated individuals.
Research has been clear that face coverings reduce the risk of spread and vaccines reduce transmission
and help prevent serious illness. And, according to a new poll, most California voters support mask and vaccine mandates for schools.
Students and educators say their school communities are already beyond the breaking point.
“The state said we're going to keep masks on in schools, but we have no effective mechanisms to enforce it,” said Brett Mcfadden, superintendent of Nevada Joint Union High, before Tuesday's vote. “If we have any disruption right now, we can't call the police. We have no one to call.”
One day a week, 16-yearold Kinsey Hage refuses to wear a mask to school. She calls it “Freedom Fridays.” Hage, a junior at Bella Vista High School in the San Juan Unified School District near Sacramento, started the protest alone in January. Now, over 100 of her peers participate.
“It's really frustrating to know that celebrities and adults can go to the Super Bowl unmasked,” she said. “I honestly think it's so ridiculous and unfair.”
While some friends and teachers support her, Hage said her beliefs and activism has ended friendships and hurt relationships with other teachers.
“All these friends I've known since middle school won't acknowledge me any more,” she said. “I started eating with some new friends.”
Then there's the more unpleasant encounters both at school and on social media.
“I've had kids at school literally tell me to kill myself,” she said. “They'll say `wear your mask,' or they'll just cuss me out.”
Jaxson Barrett, a 17-yearold at Carlsbad High School near San Diego, says he's been denied entry into his classroom for two weeks for refusing to wear a mask.
“I was just tired of wearing them,” he said. “I wanted to see what happened. I went into class, and I got kicked out immediately.”
He said he's been sitting outside for the entire school day trying to keep up with his assignments, despite the cold and rainy weather. About 10 students eventually joined him.
Other students across California have been calling for stricter enforcement of masking and more access to vaccinations and high-quality masks.
Michael Lee-chang, a senior at Redondo Union High School in Los Angeles County, has been vocal on social media about maintaining safety protocols on campuses. He joined hundreds of students in a January walkout to urge school leaders to reinforce masking and physical distancing in classrooms.
Lee-chang's activism has led others to bully him, he says. The 18-yearold has become a target of harassment from conservative parents on social media. Students have dropped cartons of milk on his head, he said, adding that he now walks a different path to his classes to avoid certain groups of students.