Written by Brock Johnson
Early Tuesday morning, parents in San Marcos and Torrey Pines came out to public schools to protest the COVID mandates enforced by the schools. The parents in both locations are asking for the freedom of choice when it comes to their children wearing a mask in class as well as receiving the COVID vaccine.
At San Marcos High School, approximately two dozen parents joined together in protest with signs saying “Parents For Freedom” encouraging the school to grant the students, administration, and volunteers medical freedom. The organizer of the group, Bob Crane, said that his wife, who is a speech and language pathologist for the district and works with special needs children, claims that the masks completely hinder their ability to learn especially being a dual language school.
Parents also assembled outside Torrey Pines Elementary School to protest for three reasons: mask policies, a proposed vaccine mandate, and the unjust treatment of a 3rd grader in class last week. The parents have been waiting for the school to remove their mask mandate as schools across the country have been but instead, there is a proposed vaccine mandate which has further upset them. Tensions boiled over last week when a 3rd grader with a diagnosed breathing problem was removed from class and forced to sit outside the principal’s office for not wearing a mask even though he had a doctor’s note stating that he should not wear one. His father, Aaron Goulding, claimed that he was verbally harassed by the school’s principal and they even threatened to call the police.
February 28th marks the date on which the state will reassess COVID data but parents are not expecting any change in the mask mandates within the schools.
Photo Cred: Eduardo Contreras/ San Diego Union-Tribune
