Some students choose to keep wearing masks, others happily put them away

Western High School students Makayla Pinkney and Shaniya Watson have been wearing masks to school for months during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Friday morning, the day after the Clark County School District said it would no longer mandate mask wearing in its facilities, Pinkney and Watson said they hadn’t heard that the mandate was lifted. But the seniors at the school on West Bonanza Road said that wouldn’t matter to them because both still plan to wear masks given the crowded conditions they find themselves in at school every day.

“I hope that they keep making them wear it because there was a new strain of COVID and everything,” Watson said. “There was a period of time when people were super sick, and I don’t understand why we wouldn’t wear masks with so many people at school.”

Both students said they also no longer view wearing a mask in school as an inconvenience.

“It’s like a daily thing we are so used to it,” Pinkney said.

On Thursday, Gov. Steve Sisolak rescinded a statewide mask mandate, but he deferred to local school districts to set their own policies. The Clark County district subsequently said the mandate was lifted at the end of Thursday’s school day.

“Because COVID-19 continues, students and employees of CCSD can make the individual choice to continue masking,” the district said in a statement. “At this time, all other COVID-19 mitigation measures remain in effect.”

Under federal rules, masks will still be mandated on school buses.

A different picture

The scene was a bit different Friday at Galloway Elementary School, whose drop-off area was filled with parents and children, all maskless and smiling.

“If they get sick we’ll go from there,” said Amber Daforno, standing with her two boys. The mother said given the choice her sons have now, she wouldn’t wear a mask either.

Heather Giberti walked her son to school quietly cheering with him, “no more muzzles.” The mother of three has two kids at Galloway and one senior at Foothill High School. She joked that her family will be burning their masks.

Bartlett Elementary School student Ethan Campbell told his mother Margaret he was excited to be mask-free Friday.

“It has been two really long years for all of them,” Margaret Campbell said in a message Friday morning. “I’m excited they can hopefully begin getting back to ‘normal’ school life. I sent a mask with him in case he wanted to but I know he was excited to not wear it.”

Henderson mom Mikayla Walton said she was impressed with the way J. Marlan Walker Elementary School was handling the student-choice system. One teacher emailed parents to say she still planned to wear her mask in close quarters, and Principal Jo Imlay warned children about mask-based bullying.

“They came home and told us how the principal talked to them about not asking why someone was wearing a mask and what will happen if children are being teased,” Walton said, describing the experience of her 2nd grader Peyton, 1st grader Jase and preschooler Avery.

“I am glad that parents once again have the freedom to choose what is best for their children,” Walton added.

In Boulder City, Martha P. King Elementary School volunteer Carly Conrad said the school was very strict about enforcing the mask mandate, but her own 4th grader, Ehren, often worried about forgetting his.

“It’s hard to get the kids to wear them properly all day anyway,” she said before school Friday. “I know they’re going to be relieved.”

‘It is a difficult question’

Back at Western High, parent Maria Solorzano dropped off her son, Damian, 14, in front of the school early Friday. She said she is a strong believer in personal choice, but noted that her son will continue to wear a mask in school.

“My son does not feel comfortable in the crowd, 40 to 45 students per classroom, and it is a small classroom, so he does not feel comfortable not wearing one,” Solorzano said. “So, he will continue to wear one in the class.”

Solorzano said kids have gotten used to wearing the masks because it has been “non-stop.” She said her son is vaccinated but still feels safer with the mask on.

“For students it is a difficult question,” Solorzano said. “They are minors. My problem is the class is so full of kids that you don’t know…any type of illness (in that environment) is spread. I feel for now until it (COVID) is a little more controlled that the masks should stay in place, especially for the minor children.”

Many students were also still wearing masks at Spring Valley High School. Michael Sterling, a math teacher at Spring Valley, estimated about 75 percent of his students had masks on Friday. In one class, 16 of 21 students wore masks.

A third grade teacher at Griffith Elementary School said there were only two kids in her class not wearing masks. However, she said many of the kids reported that their parents weren’t aware of the change in policy.

Conversely, at M.J. Christensen Elementary School, about 20 kids were in line to go in as the gates opened Friday and all except for four were not wearing masks. No teachers on duty were wearing masks either.

Sendy Cruz Campos said her three daughters, third grader Kalyani, second grader Ariadne and preschooler Elizia were thrilled to not have to wear a mask anymore Friday. The girls all attend Pinecrest Academy Horizon, off Boulder Highway in Henderson.

Campos said she worried about their mental health due to all the changes COVID-19 brought to their learning environment. She’s hoping rescinding the mask mandate will help bring a sense of normalcy to the girls’ lives.

“They feel free and it helps them with their mental state,” she wrote in a message Friday. “Also my kids got their COVID vaccine, which of course won’t protect them 100 percent but it will prevent their chances of getting infected themselves and infecting others.”

Trustees hear about it

At a Thursday night Clark County School Board meeting, a few trustees and some in the audience wore masks, while others didn’t. And during a public comment period, some students, parents and employees weighed in on the district’s decision to lift the mask mandate.

A student at Clark High School said he feels the decision was “misguided” and shows a lot of selfishness.

He said the decision doesn’t reflect scientific knowledge and said masks have been proven to be effective at slowing the spread of the coronavirus.

People want to “appease the new wave of anti-science thinking,” he said.

Student Lauren Gomez, who did not say where she attended school, said students should choose whether they want to wear a mask. She said an email was sent out saying people shouldn’t bully those who wear a mask, but nothing was said about not bullying those who choose to go without a mask.

She said when she took off her mask because she couldn’t breathe and was having a panic attack, the principal at her school told her she was being disrespectful.

A high school senior who identified herself as Desiree said releasing the decision about the mask mandate during the school day — while her fourth period class was underway — “was definitely not the best choice if you were expecting anything but chaos because that’s what we saw.”

Contact Glenn Puit by email at gpuit@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GlennatRJ on Twitter. Contact Sabrina Schnur at sschnur@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0278. Follow @sabrina_schnur on Twitter. Review-Journal staff writer Julie Wootton-Greener contributed to this report.