US /

Amid Call for 'No Mask Monday,' Kids Just Say No

Just 6 of 35K students in Utah's Washington County district played along
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 26, 2020 7:21 AM CDT
Utah Students Reject 'No Mask Monday'
Faculty members at Arrowhead Elementary welcome students near the front doors as Washington County School District returns to class on Aug. 13, 2020, in Santa Clara, Utah.   (Chris Caldwell/The Spectrum via AP)

Almost 1,000 people attended a Friday protest outside the offices of the Washington County school district in Utah, calling for an end to the mask mandate in schools, from which sprung a new form of protest: No Mask Monday, per KTVX. But it hasn't found much of a following with students taking a stand. Though any student who refuses to wear a mask must be sent home under a state mandate, social media posts had asked students to do so en masse because "they cannot suspend the whole student body." Dallee Cobb, a cheerleader at Enterprise High School, wasn't about to let that happen. She stood up at a Friday football game and told the crowd to "mask up." "Wearing a mask is not fun. Neither is wearing a seatbelt, or a life jacket, or pads for football but we do all these things so we have a future," she said, per KSL, warning "how fast things we love can be taken away."

Enterprise High Principal Calvin Holt says other students reached out to their peers to put an end to the protest, fearing their school would be shut down. He says there was no problem with masks on Monday. Ultimately, just six of 35,000 students in the entire district were sent home for not wearing masks, per KTVX. One of those was Pine View High School senior Camron Bingham, who says he prefers "to breathe fresh air." He's backed by his mother, Candice Nay. "You can give me a misdemeanor and I can go to court," she tells KTVX. But the district's director of communications, Steven Dunham, says more parents are backing the mandate, especially after several students tested positive for COVID-19 last week. "We had more parents bring thank you notes and treats to our schools than we had students go home with their parents for not wearing a mask." (More Utah stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X