CLOVIS, Calif. —
Parents and their kids, even the little ones, were very vocal at Wednesday evening's Clovis Unified School Board meeting, saying masks should be a choice and not having it is hurting them.
"It definitely makes it harder to communicate and it like takes away some of the connection that you might have with your peers and your teacher. It can definitely make it harder to learn," said Sam Nolan, going into 7th grade at Granite Ridge Junior High.
His younger brother James also says the masks are distracting and downright bothersome. "Especially when its super hot it makes my face super hot and its just very uncomfortable," said James Nolan, going into the 5th grade at Riverview Elementary. The Nolan brothers are sick of the masks at school.
And parents that have seen their kids struggle feel helpless.
"Very hopeless, in the beginning I would watch every board meeting and I would try to be as into it as I could and I would end every recording in tears because I felt so helpless and I felt like the board were trying but they weren't really listening," said Michelle Carter, a mother of four students at CUSD.
Wednesday nights rally was all about being heard and seen from signs like "we want to be free" to "if you care let me get air, "parents want the board to know the masks are having emotional and physical impacts on students.
"My daughter here has had a lot of ear infections so she's kind of hard of hearing so she does look at people's lips to be able to understand what they're saying," said Carter.
Trouble communicating, headaches or breathing problems, and worsening acne are all potential disadvantages the World Health Organization has outlined can result from wearing a mask. However, it also says it is a benefit in reducing the spread of the infection.
And physicians at Wednesday's meeting say that is the most pressing concern right now. "There's just too many risks of not wearing a mask that far outweighs it. The amount of sickness, potentially death that can happen is just not something that we want to risk for our children or anyone's kids."
Ray England says a physician or the health department shouldn't decide for his daughter. "It's a matter of choice and its her choice not to wear a mask in this country that should count for something," said England.
The meeting did not have the mask mandate topic as a line item on the agenda, which means the school board didn't make a decision on it.
That being said, parents were able to voice their concern in the public comment portion of the meeting and the school says it's listening and planning it's next steps.
"They want to talk about is it appropriate they pass a resolution to the state saying we think that the state is making decisions that may be best made at a local level," said Kelly Avants, the CUSD Communication Officer.
The school says the other option it could explore is filing a lawsuit to see if the schools are able to make their own decisions.