First day for San Ramon Valley schools comes with mask controversy

SAN RAMON, Calif. (KRON) — Schools in the San Ramon Valley Unified School District are opening in-person for the first day of class on Tuesday, but the return comes with some controversy.

California is requiring public schools to enforce mask-wearing while inside school buildings for students and staff. When outdoors, masks aren’t necessary.

However, some parents in the school district are against the mask mandate. They even protested during a school board meeting last week, during which police had to be called.

The parents who demonstrated are a part of a nationwide grassroots movement called “Let them breathe.”

“They are almost everywhere else without a mask, and I would not be comfortable with them in class with a mask on,” one parent, Courtney Pronin, said to KRON4.

This is despite a new surge in COVID-19 cases, with mostly unvaccinated Americans being most harmed. Children under the age of 12 are not yet eligible to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

Happening now-the principal at iron horse middle school says kids who refuse to wear their mask inside the classrooms will be talked to. Many parents have said that they don’t want their kids to mask up. First day of school @kron4news pic.twitter.com/2G6jVNJKv6

— Will Tran (@KRON4WTran) August 10, 2021

“Due to the circulating and highly contagious Delta variant, CDC recommends universal indoor masking by all students (age 2 and older), staff, teachers, and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status,” guidance on the CDC’s website says, last updated on August 5.

With COVID-19 cases increasing nationally since mid-June 2021, driven by the B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant of SARS-CoV-2, protection against exposure remains essential in school settings. 

Because of the highly transmissible nature of this variant, along with the extent of mixing of vaccinated and unvaccinated people in schools, the fact that children <12 years of age are not currently eligible for vaccination, and low levels of vaccination among youth ages 12-17, CDC recommends universal indoor masking for all students (age 2 years and older), teachers, staff, and visitors to K-12 schools regardless of vaccination status.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

But some parents who arrived to drop off on August 10 spoke to KRON4 showed that not all have an issue enforcing masks on their children.

“I have a 6-year-old that I need to look out for at home and with this spreading… I don’t mind it, let them wear it,” said parent Tamara Tabatabai.

The superintendent of San Ramon Valley Unified said its students were also given a virtual learning option.

Any students who refuse to wear their masks inside the school will be talked to, said the principal at Iron Horse Middle School.