Tri-Cities yard signs urge parents to resist student masks. Will that work?

Signs have popped up in yards and on corners around Tri-Cities in recent weeks encouraging parents and kids to resist the mask mandate in schools.

But many local and state school officials are clear: Unmasked students could be sent home if they refuse to put one on.

It’s far from the first option that Pasco school officials wanted to take when classes started on Tuesday. They first will try to provide a mask, and then get administrators involved if the student refuses.

Then a parent will be called. As a last resort, the student may be sent home or a parent will be called to pick the student up.

Pasco, Richland and Kennewick officials said they have face coverings available for students who don’t have one.

All of the districts are under the same Washington state requirement that students, teachers and other school workers wear face coverings most of the time when they are indoors. They are allowed to take them off when they’re at lunch.

“Our experience is that families are extremely supportive of in-person learning for their children,” said Robyn Chastain, Kennewick’s executive director of communication and public relations.

The yard signs that started showing up just before schools reopened this week urge parents to, “Resist the lies by the CDC,” and encourage people to download the messaging app Telegram and search for their school.

There are individual groups organized around different schools, but at the center of the protest is a group of Liberty Christian School parents.

One mom helping organize the push-back is Kat Espinda, who said in various posts she is concerned masks make children sicker.

“We only want ‘choice’ for our children,” she said in an email to Liberty Christian Superintendent Jim Cochran. “We need to see the evidence that these masks aren’t going to harm our children long term.”

The state’s mask requirement applies to all schools including private ones.

Espinda forwarded a letter to parents, expanding on the reasons why she questions masks. The letter is meant for children to take to school to say their parent doesn’t consent to having a mask on their child.

Mask protests

Espinda, who previously worked in property management, told the Herald she left her position in July after a 26-year career to fight mask requirements in schools.

On Wednesday, her ninth-grade son wasn’t allowed into the Liberty Christian building without a mask. He’s attended the school since kindergarten.

“I am looking at options right now, as I have made two payments to Liberty Christian School which they have received and deposited,” she told the Herald.

Espinda told the Telegram group that she was given a letter that said if she didn’t comply her son wouldn’t be able to attend and they would refund her tuition.

Cochran sent an email urging other parents not to make the school the platform for their disagreement with the state rule.

“As a school community, we have worked together since March 2020 to navigate COVID-19,” he said in the email. “We will continue to do so as we have been communicating over the last three weeks of so since the latest mandates and guidance came out on Aug. 11.”

It’s unclear how many parents are joining in with Espinda’s resistance.

Before Mid-Columbia public schools opened this week, rallies against the mask mandate drew hundreds of opponents.

But since classes began, none of the school districts have reported widespread problems with the more than 50,000 students required to wear them.

And Tri-City school district officials have said their hands are tied.

Every public school district relies on the state to provide its funding. Superintendent Chris Reykdal has threatened to stop that funding for any district defying the mandate.

Mask safety

While Espinda and others have questioned the safety and necessity of the masks, there is a fair amount of research showing that they are effective in reducing the risk of spreading COVID-19, said Dr. Amy Person, the Benton Franklin Health District’s health officer.

“Masks are not new,” she told the Herald. “There are several professions that wear masks for long periods every day. If there was an increased risk of infection, it has not been identified.”

The masks are part of a larger collection of measures that are aimed at keeping the disease from spreading throughout the school. They include adequate ventilation, hand washing, social distancing and keeping kids out of school when they’re sick.

When those measures aren’t followed, research shows an increase in transmission. While kids may not get as seriously ill in general, some get hospitalized, Person said.

And two teens have died of COVID complications in the Tri-Cities, a 15-year-old from Kennewick and a girl between 10 and 19 who lived in Franklin County.

Two other kids in Franklin County have suffered from a serious illness in children linked to COVID-19 called multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) and six kids in Yakima County were sickened.

With the high transmission rates of COVID, it makes sense to take steps to slow the spread of the disease, Person said.

This story was originally published September 2, 2021 at 10:25 AM.