Fresno-area schools cheer Newsom’s decision to drop mask mandate. But not everyone is happy
.JPG "California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday students in schools will be encouraged — not required — to wear masks in class after March 11, but some Valley students already are ditching face coverings. (Bee file photo)")
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday students in schools will be encouraged — not required — to wear masks in class after March 11, but some Valley students already are ditching face coverings.
Last week, Clovis Unified’s school board voted to change its policy so that unmasked students won’t be excluded from the classroom. The vote was met with loud cheers and applause from nearly 200 parents and students.
After 11:59 p.m. on March 11, in schools and child care facilities, masks will not be required but will be strongly recommended for students and staff. Masks will still be required for everyone in high transmission settings like public transit, emergency shelters, health care settings, correctional facilities, homeless shelters and long-term care facilities. Local jurisdictions will be able to require more stringent policies if they wish.
Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas, Fresno Unified’s board president, said schools would continue to follow state guidance on masking and focus on keeping students in class.
“Kids being in class and in a safe learning environment is the priority,” Jonasson Rosas said Monday, following the governor’s announcement.
Manuel Bonilla, Fresno Teachers Association president, said the union and Fresno Unified both remained committed during the COVID-19 pandemic to follow government guidelines and keep students and educators safe.
“Throughout the COVID pandemic, we’ve advocated for a measured approach of balancing the health and safety needs of our students, members, and our community members with the academic needs of our students,” Bonilla said.
The first day of school without masking requirements will be March 14,
“Until then, we continue to be under the state mask mandate and will ask all students to continue wearing their masks indoors to ensure compliance with the law,” Fresno Unified officials said in a statement.
Clovis Superintendent Eimear O’Brien in a statement called Monday’s news welcome and said it marked another milestone in the journey back to normalcy for students and staff. She said district officials are pleased the governor didn’t wait longer to make change.
“We have carefully navigated every step of this journey adhering to health mandates and balancing two critically important goals: protecting the health and safety of our students and staff, and prioritizing in-person education for our students,” O’Brien said. “Every decision we have made has kept these two goals in mind, and whether it is our investment of millions of dollars in air quality improvements, free-standing HEPA filtration units in every classroom, PPE, testing, and cleaning and sanitizing measures, or working with our county to first implement (and in recent weeks to end) contact tracing and most testing, we are confident that our schools are ready to move into an endemic approach that returns California’s schools to the fully engaged, mask-free learning environments we have long valued.”
After last week’s Clovis Unified board vote, many teachers were left with questions about how to handle masks in class, said Kristin Heimerdinger, spokesperson for the Association of Clovis Educators (ACE). Teachers said they felt caught in between state rules and their local school board’s policy.
“We’re relieved that the governor’s announcement means Clovis educators won’t be put in the middle of conflicting rules for much longer,” Heimerdinger said Monday.
The Clovis Unified’s vote last week also caused mixed reactions among students, said Buchannan High senior Rami Zwebti, a vocal supporter of masks. Some students chose to continue wearing masks, Zebti said.
“COVID, of course, is not over,” Zwebti said.
Newsom’s announcement came as a shock to Zwebti, who predicted the state will see a surge in COVID-19 cases.
“It terrifies me so much because that’s going to put so many students at risk,” said Zwebti, who has diabetes and is considered immunocompromised.
The mask decision was not the only time Clovis moved forward ahead of state guidance. Clovis also returned to in-person instruction before most other schools.
The results of a Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies-Los Angeles Times poll released last week indicated about 55% of voters who are parents of school-age children approve of adding the COVID vaccine to the list of required shots for students in kindergarten through 12th grade schools, while 42% disapprove. The poll also shows 61% of parents approve of requiring masks for students, teachers and staff in schools this year, while 37% disapprove. The poll results do not add up to 100% because the remaining respondents reported no opinion.
In Fresno County, just over 25% of children ages 5-11 have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. That number jumps to just over 60% for children 12-17, according to data from Fresno County Department of Public Health.
Nearly 70% of high school-age children in Clovis are vaccinated. That number is about 63% for middle school students and 32% for elementary students.
In Fresno Unified, about 63% of high school and middle school students are vaccinated. About 23% of elementary students are vaccinated, the public health data shows.
The Sacramento Bee contributed to this report.
This story was originally published February 28, 2022 at 5:29 PM.