Photo: Getty Images
The same week as the State is planning to lift the mask mandate, public school teachers in another local school district are protesting the lifting of the mask mandate.
Nearly 200 Rocklin unified school district teachers called in sick Monday to protest the district’s last-minute defiance of state-imposed K-12 mask mandates. Rocklin is one of nearly a half dozen local school district that adopted a new mask enforcement policy before the Newsom Administration lifted the state mandates yesterday. In a statement Monday afternoon made by the association, teachers learned the district’s board held a special February 23 meeting ahead of its regularly scheduled March meeting, and during the district’s President’s Week break, to adopt a new mask enforcement policy.“While there are varying opinions on masking in our community and our schools, the issue teachers are most concerned about is the lack of respect for educators blatantly displayed by the RUSD Board of Trustees in making this change,” the statement read.
The walkout came as Governor Gavin Newsom announced changes to California's COVID-19 mask requirements for classrooms and school districts. His administration said masks would not be required for in-person learning on March 11, easing into a policy change he has signaled over the past month - however, masking is to remain in place for teachers and faculty.
District leaders ultimately decided that the disruption the masking rule caused to classroom learning made enforcing the mandate “unsustainable.”