PAGE A12, KEIZERTIMES, FEBRUARY 11, 2022
Parents, students protest mask
requirements outside school district offices
Rally attendees line Lancaster Drive outside of the Salem-Keizer School District offices on the morning of Feb. 8.
LIFE
By JOEY CAPPELLETTI
Of the Keizertimes
Over 200 people gathered outside of
the Salem-Keizer School District offices
on the morning of Feb. 8 to protest
ongoing mask mandates in schools.
The rally’s attendees, who stood along
Lancaster Drive, held signs and waved
American flags as cars drove by — with
some honking in support.
Jenny Maguire, an event organizer
and former Salem-Keizer teacher, said
in a Feb. 4 email to the Keizertimes
that the rally was to protest permanent
mask mandates in schools and to advo-
cate for mask-choice within schools.
While the protest had been planned
since last week, it came one day after
the Oregon Health Authority (OHA)
announced that statewide mask
requirements within schools would be
lifted no later than March 31. Following
the March 31 date, mask requirements
decisions will fall to local districts and
health authorities.
“By late March, health scien-
tists expect that about 400 or fewer
Oregonians would be hospitalized
with COVID-19, the level of hospital-
izations the state experienced before
the Omicron variant began to spread.
Mask requirements for schools will be
lifted on March 31,” read a Feb. 7 press
release from OHA.
Even with the OHA announcement,
Maguire wrote in an email Monday
night that the rally was still happening
and that OHA’s announcement “was
not a win for Salem/Keizer.”
At the Feb. 8 rally, Mandy
Breitenstein, an event organizer and
mother of five, said that parents should
Photo by JOEY CAPPELLETTI of Keizertimes
be able to “choose what is best for our
children as individuals.”
“Salem-Keizer (School District) has
not said anything about pulling back
a mask policy. And so if anything, that
makes our job more important, our
voices need to be louder because our
kids are at risk here and there's noth-
ing more important than our children,”
said Breitenstein, who is also a former
Salem-Keizer teacher. She resigned in
October of 2021 after 14 years in the
district due to vaccine mandates.
OHA’s press release said the mask
requirements in schools will be lifted
Parents and students wave as cars drive by on Lancaster Drive.
on March 31 “to give school districts
time to prepare.”
At a Feb. 8 school board meeting,
Salem-Keizer Superintendent Christy
Perry said the district “can’t make any
change before March 31 but the deci-
sion will rest with us.”
“The thing to remember is that uni-
versal masking is still recommended
by the CDC, recommended by Oregon
Health Authority and recommended
by Oregon Department of Education,”
said Perry. “I’ll work with our health
experts and work with board leadership
on how do we navigate the decision
Photo by JOEY CAPPELLETTI of Keizertimes