Students and parents protest District 20 indoor mask requirement
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO)-- September 27, a mask mandate for all staff, students, and faculty went into effect for Academy District 20.
Friday, September 24, the district announced an indoor mask mandate, regardless of vaccination status.
In response to the mandate, several high school students walked out of class Monday and joined with parents in a protest outside of the Academy District 20 administration building.
The protests continue. Parents and student now gathered outside the D20 admin building to show their opposition to the mask policy. pic.twitter.com/w9qcoqTeTh
— Jessica Gruenling KRDO (@JessGruenling) September 27, 2021
District 20 made the policy change after more than 2,000 students and staff were forced to quarantine during the first six weeks of school. According to Superintendent Tom Gregory, that's roughly more than 300 students missing school and extracurricular activities per week since the beginning of school.
District officials say the decision wasn't made lightly. Officials hope the mandate will enable students to continue attending in-person school and school-related activities through the rest of the year.
The students who spoke with KRDO say while they understand the severity of COVID-19, they believe they would be able to decide whether or not to wear a mask in school.
"Basically they’re trying to take our rights away from us," claims Taylor Mallery, a junior at Pine Creek High School. "It should be our opinion-whether or not we want to be vaccinated, we want to share that with someone, we want to wear a mask. It should be up to us not forced upon us. I feel like that’s our right as a human beings living in the U.S.A. because that’s what our country is formed around and about and it shouldn’t be taken away from us."
D20 STUDENTS SPEAK OUT ON WALKOUT: Rampart H.S. Senior Class President Grace Konz says D20 has betrayed the students and parents of the district after their decision to implement a mask mandate. @KRDONC13 pic.twitter.com/vPmbLtQf4r
— Dan Beedie KRDO (@BeedieonTV) September 27, 2021
Other students told KRDO some students aren't "afraid" of the virus.
"I hope that the teachers, and staff, and district just get the idea that not everyone wants to wear a mask, not everyone is scared of it and the people that are can wear their own mask," said Alexis Peterson, a sophomore at Pine Creek High School.
At Pine Creek High School, several students did return to class and said they would not return to school Monday.
Rampart High School Senior Class President Grace Konz says she is split on whether or not she will return to school. Konz organized a walkout at Rampart High which included dozens of students. The senior says the district's decision to require masks for all grade levels felt like a 'betrayal'.
"We believe it should be students and parent's choice on whether or not they want to wear masks," said Konz. "So we decided to have a walkout. Just to show the district that there are so many of us that medically and emotionally cannot wear masks."
However, D20 argues that the district's number of quarantines have simply gotten too high.
“Some people aren’t for (the mask requirement). Some people are for it. But at the end of the day, what everyone is for is keeping students engaged with in person learning,” said Allison Cortez with Academy School District 20.
When it comes to high number of quarantines, D20 says they are following the guidance from El Paso County Health and the isolations/quarantines are required by state law. District officials say the more masks are worn the fewer students are required to quarantine, and if students don't start masking up then the district may be forced to revert to remote learning.
“What we heard over last year is please don’t send me back to remote learning," said Cortez. "If we stay on the course that we are on. We are going to end up back in remote learning.”
