PAGE A2, KEIZERTIMES, FEBRUARY 25, 2022
PROTEST,
Continued from page A1
and Danielle Bethell were two of the
more prominent attendees at Friday’s
rally. Bethell, who is also a Marion
County commissioner, was in atten-
dance with her daughter.
“I recognize that (Superintendent
Christy Perry’s) hands are somewhat
tied with the rulings that have come
out from the Oregon Department of
Education recently,” Bethell said Friday.
“But at the end of the day, she needs to
give her building administrators the
opportunity to do the jobs they are
capable of doing. I believe she needs to
take the mask mandate away and give
what we consider local control back to
the building. She can do it.”
The
Oregon
Department
of
Education announced on Feb. 7 that
the state would lift the statewide school
mask mandate on March 31 and return
decision making to local school dis-
tricts and health authorities. Masks
have been required in Oregon schools
since students returned to in-person
classes in March of 2021.
Many of the students, parents and
educators at Friday’s rally pushed for
the district to end the mask require-
ment in schools before March 31.
Megan Lippold, a former college
and career coach at West Salem High
School, said she had left her job and
pulled her children from the district
due to the mask mandate and vaccine
mandate for school staff.
“We’re just passionate about having
the choice for masks,” said Lippold. “At
School board director Danielle Bethell (third from left) stands along Commercial St. on Feb. 18 with other protesters.
Photo by MATT RAWLINGS of Keizertimes
this point, I have absolutely zero trust
in our governor to say what she means
and mean what she says. I think the
March 31 date is being used as a carrot
to get this group not to come out and
voice our opinions.”
Amanda Reyna attended the rally
with her three children, who are all
students at Washington Elementary in
Salem. Reyna said one of her sons was
forced to leave school three times for
refusing to wear a mask in class.
“I want the mandate to end sooner
so my kids can breathe freely. The
masks can cause reading issues, slurred
speech, lots of issues. It should be up to
the students,” Reyna said.
Multiple school districts have defied
the state and already made masks
optional. After the Molalla River School
District was forced to cancel classes on
Feb. 18 due to ongoing mask protests,
the school board voted the same day to
make masking optional as of March 3.
Alsea School District Superintendent
Marc Thielman — who resigned on Feb.
22 after multiple workplace complaints
were filed against him — announced in
January that masks would be optional
in schools going forward. The state
responded by withholding federal
COVID relief funds until the district
became compliant.
Both Bethell and rally organizer
Jenny Maguire, a former behavior spe-
cialist at Scott Elementary in Salem,
said the risk of forfeiting relief funds
from the state is worth ending mask
requirements in Salem-Keizer schools.
“The fact that the federal dollars are
attached to COVID protocols is a prob-
lem,” Bethell said. “If they were to deny