California students no longer have to wear masks in school as of this week, but many are choosing to keep them on as they and their families weigh the ongoing risks of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The California Department of Public Health allowed students and school staff to choose whether or not they wanted to wear a mask on campus starting March 12, making this the first week of in-person learning without state-mandated face coverings in two years.
School districts are not tracking mask-wearing at schools, although some reported general trends.
Roseville Joint Union High School District, where many parents and students have been pushing back against mask wearing for months, reported that about 80% of students were not wearing masks on Monday.
About 60% of students and staff are not wearing masks in Galt Joint Union High School District, according to the district.
Folsom parent Nichole Wilczewski has four children in Folsom Cordova Unified, and let each of them make their own decision.
"I felt like it was important to let everyone choose because the numbers are fairly low here and we are all vaccinated," she said. "I feel like we did our part to help out ourselves and the community. For that I wanted to let everyone choose."
COVID-19 numbers dropped to their lowest levels in months following the winter's steep omicron surge.
While rates dropped, some districts, like Davis Joint Unified School District, are waiting a little longer before lifting their mask mandates. The Davis district plans to end its mask mandate on April 11.
Sacramento City Unified School District board recently voted to lift its mask mandate for students and staff, but only after Sacramento County is in a low community level of COVID-19 spread for four consecutive weeks. Sacramento County has yet to hit that threshold.
Beth Campbell, a Sacramento City Unified parent of a fifth grader and ninth grader, said she was very apprehensive about the district lifting the mask mandate after spring break and hoped the rules would stay in place until the end of the school year.
"I am really concerned that children will face social pressure to unmask not just from peers but also from teachers and other adults," Campbell said.
Others called out Sacramento and Davis school districts for not being consistent with the state's schedule.
"The school board for the past two years has been following the science," said Sacramento City Unified teacher Davin Michael. "But when the science no longer fits their agenda, they choose to ignore it."
Davis resident Gael Tornatore, whose three children are vaccinated, called Davis Joint Unified's decision to delay lifting the mandate unconscionable.
"There has been a shift from protection against COVID by a government mandate to a personal choice mindset based on personal risk factors," she said. "Our children should have rights as individuals to make decisions about masks on their faces based on their personal circumstances."
Some districts lifted their mask mandates weeks prior to the Newsom administration's announcement. Students, many in El Dorado and Placer Counties, protested the mandates for weeks. Some of them ended up in gymnasiums, separated from their teacher and peers at schools.
St. Francis High School, along with many other Northern California Catholic schools, allowed students to opt out of masks starting March 2. Staff were able to opt out on Monday. Tina Tedesco, communications officer at the school, said about 75% of students and staff are no longer wearing masks on campus.
Those who have long held concerns about masks in academic settings welcomed the policy change. Some teachers and parents told The Sacramento Bee they grew concerned that their children were not picking up proper pronunciation in language classes.
Megan Powers-Dunn, who runs a child care center in Rancho Cordova, said she had seen a difference in pronunciation in many of the 80 children she served. The majority of her teachers removed their masks after two years of wearing them in front of children who are learning to speak.
"Over the last two years, we have seen a huge increase in developmental, behavioral and language issues," Powers-Dunn said. "Having teachers in masks that children see 10 to 11 hours a day, five days a week has affected children under 5."
Last year's restrictions made it so high school language students were focusing on written assignments rather than verbal communication, said Sacramento City Unified Latin teacher Damian Harmony.
"The impact of not having had to practice for a year straight definitely hurt their ability to pronounce at the level expected this year, far more than any mask has," Harmony said.
