Following a PRJUSD board meeting on Tues. night, students will no longer be required to wear masks indoors on campus.
After addressing the topic for two plus hours, the board passed the resolution with a 5-2 vote in favor of lifting the mask mandate, as well as exonerating the students who protested the mask mandate two weeks ago. This resolution will become effective immediately. PRJUSD will be the second school district in California after Roseville to create a resolution that overrules the mask mandate. During previous controversies, the board has weighed in student protest with great openness.
PRHS students including Ireland Lynch (11), Hunter Breese (12), Cameron Clayton (11), and Allison Hernandez (12) elaborated on their positions of mask-wearing at the high school and why masks should be optional. All four students spoke on a general consensus being that they aren’t “anti-maskers,” but instead would like to have “the choice to wear masks.” Sophomore Ireland Lynch explained that masks have been proven “ineffective by the CDC,” and that she wished that the board would “let them breathe.”
English teacher Aaron Cantrell also spoke at the meeting, describing Covid-19 symptoms with a metaphorical twist. “There’s another fever that we could have tomorrow regardless of how the voting goes…if we have shortness of temper towards one another, or a chilly disposition towards one another, or if we feel that interaction with one another is achy and induces fatigue, then I think that’s a much greater thing that I’m afraid of…regardless of how everybody votes tonight, we should treat everyone with kindness and respect.”
After addressing the topic for two plus hours, the board passed the resolution with a 5-2 vote in favor of lifting the mask mandate, as well as exonerating the students who protested the mask mandate two weeks ago. This resolution(pdf) will become effective immediately.
Superintendent Curt Dubost expressed his legal concerns regarding the mask mandate to the board before its ratification, explaining that “there are attorneys working on possible right now to try and stop us.” If Covid-19 cases increase drastically in the aftermath of the resolution, the board may have to revisit the resolution at a later date. The resolution indicates that staff will still be required to wear masks indoors, and students will have the option to wear masks. Students participating in indoor athletics such as Men’s Volleyball will still be required to be tested weekly in accordance to CIF requirements.
