Photo courtesy of ksby.com.
In recent weeks, schools in the San Luis Coastal Unified School District have been discussing making mask-wearing indoors at school optional. COVID-19 cases in San Luis Obispo have been on a decline since February, and at this rate, we might be nearing the end of this pandemic as we approach its two-year mark.
SLCUSD held a meeting on February 24th regarding this, where multiple parents shared their concerns regarding keeping on or taking off masks in schools. Meanwhile, Paso Robles Joint Unified School District’s Board of Trustees have officially made masks optional for students in a 5-2 vote. Many hope that SLCUSD will follow Paso Robles’ example. (UPDATE: SLCUSD voted 7-0 to end the mask mandate after March 11).
According to San Luis Obispo County data, 92% of SLCUSD staff are vaccinated.
But what about the students? Is it really safe for thousands of students to stop wearing masks now? There are countless uncertainties. Unfortunately, it is a viable possibility that COVID-19 cases will have a massive uprise following the optional masks.
“Personally, I feel like this isn’t what’s safe for people right now. At this point, we’ve gotten so far, why can’t we just brave it out a bit more instead of jumping the gun and going straight back to pre-COVID life? It just doesn’t seem reasonable to do this right now,” said junior Holly Latuska.
However, parents who spoke at the February meeting seemingly disagree.
“What we’re seeing as parents is that our kids are suffering. They’re suffering developmentally. They’re suffering learning-wise. They also have social and emotional problems. We’re seeing anxiety and depression in our kids and we’ve never had these issues before,” said SLO parent Corrin LePell about students’ behavior during mask mandates.
Whether you believe it is beneficial or harmful, there’s one thing for sure– people will disagree. It’s important to look at the facts and subjectively decide for yourself if it really is safe to take off your mask in school.
