A Mountain View man says that his 4-year-old son was sent home from his school for not wearing a mask. A video showing the incident is causing controversy on social media.
Mountain View parent Shawn, who didn't want to share his last name, told NBC Bay Area Friday that his son JD was kicked out of his class for not wearing a mask. He said that this isn't the first time JD had to miss class this week due to a mask mandate.
The Mountain View Whisman School District is one of few districts around the Bay Area that started the school year with masks.
In a video shot by Shawn, a school resource officer is seen stepping in. Shawn and his attorney said the Theuerkauf Elementary School principal called the officer more than once this week.
After making the rounds on social media, parents in the district said they received an email, informing them about the incident.
“Saying that it's too bad that discourse can’t be civil anymore because of the mask mandate,” said Mountain View resident Myles Watson.
In a statement, Mountain View Whisman School District wrote in part that “it’s priority is keeping students and staff safe." They said it's very unfortunate a parent recorded one of their principals, even though she asked him not to and added they’ve only had one parent resort to tactics taken from a national playbook.
“I hope that they are doing what they think is best,” Watson said.
The district also announced that as of Friday, indoor masking is optional as they referenced the latest COVID-19 transmission map, showing most of the Bay Area out of the orange zone.
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“Right now, the numbers of cases and COVID is going down in the Bay Area. We're really not at ground level yet but we're definitely making a lot of progress,” said UCSF infectious disease expert Dr. Peter Chin-Hong.
Santa Clara County is now in the yellow, indicating medium level transmission rates. It’s even lower in other counties like San Mateo, now in the green.
Chin-Hong said that people shouldn't celebrate just yet.
“I predict that if cases go up during the wintertime, you'd see micro environments coming back with mask guidance,” he said.
The Mountain View Whisman School District did make it clear that they will reconsider a mask mandate if local community levels go back up, but certain parents like Shawn said they're ready to fight that in the courts.
