Hundreds of California high school students protest mask mandate

Students in a Central California school district are protesting the mask mandate, a situation that has resulted in administrators accommodating them in sub-standard learning spaces to the displeasure of their parents.

“They are very upset with the mask mandate. They want to see that go away,” Superintendent Dave Kline told the Modesto Bee. “But it is something they are required to do.”

Kline said 375 students did not wear masks on Wednesday, and 344 on Thursday, from a reported 5,420 students total.

Children who show up to school without a mask are offered one at the office, along with a series of other accommodations if refused. If all options are refused and exhausted, they will be taken to an “alternative setting” for the school day, like cafeterias and gyms.

Some parents spoke out after posts to social media appeared to show maskless students at Oakdale High School gathered in the gym with the door blocked by folding tables. There were also claims the heat had been turned off.

"They're segregating all the kids who are protesting, and they're keeping them in the gyms, away from all the regular classes and the students who are agreeing to be masked. So they've been segregated in there all day long,” a mother of two Oakdale High School students told the Washington Examiner.

A district spokesperson said the placement of the tables was “unintentional and temporary” and stressed claims the students were trapped in the gym were “false.”

Jonathan Zachreson, founder of Reopen California Schools, told the Examiner that mask protests gained steam after the Democratic state gov. Gavin Newsom was seen unmasked at the NFC championship game between the Los Angeles Rams and the San Francisco 49ers.

"Ever since Newsom's mask fiasco at the NFC championship game, just the pressure and the anger has boiled over,” Zachreson said. “We're seeing these mask protests by students now across the state.”

The Oakdale Police Department issued a statement saying the school protests “have been small in nature and have been peaceful.”

The district cancelled a school board meeting scheduled for Monday evening citing safety concerns.