At least 50 students in Texas walked out of schools Thursday morning in protest of Round Rock Independent School District’s COVID-19 policies.
Over 600 students signed a petition that was passed around the district’s high schools and middle schools.
The petition reportedly demanded that the district provide contact tracing and KN95 or N95 masks, enforce masking, give students access to outdoor spaces, and make rapid or PCR tests available for all people on school grounds every two weeks.
Thursday’s protest was “socially distanced protests,” and organizers told those participating just to go home after 10:00 a.m.
NYC SPENDS $2 MILLION TO REMOVE ROOSEVELT STATUE
District officials maintained that any student’s participation would be deemed an unexcused absence, but some principals gave students “a safe space” to participate.
“Things weren’t going to get better until we took a stand,” said Asmita Lehther, a Round Rock High School student and walkout organizer. “We care about student safety, we care about faculty safety, and we need the district to listen to us. We need a mask mandate that’s actually enforced.”
Another student echoed Lehther’s sentiment and spoke on the importance of safety within the district.
“There are kids who don’t wear masks at all throughout the day, and I don’t feel safe,” the student said. “I don’t want to get sick and get my family sick. We just want the board to listen to us.”
A mask mandate is in place in the schools, and there is a free testing site for the district, Round Rock Independent School District officials said. They added that efforts to expand testing opportunities are in motion and air filtration systems in the schools have been upgraded.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“We close individual classes and switch to remote learning temporarily [as allowed by the Texas Education Agency] when there are a significant amount of epi-linked cases in one class,” the district said. “However, we have to balance closure decisions with the importance of keeping schools open for a variety of reasons, including the important resources campuses provide daily that many families depend on.”
