Students across Flagstaff Unified School District (FUSD) participated in a protest against its mask mandate Monday.
The protest, which had been spreading on social media for a few weeks ahead of the date, was imagined as a no-mask Monday, where students would come to school without a mask and politely refuse to wear one.
At Coconino High School and Flagstaff High School, students who participated were directed to the football fields, where they waited for the rest of the day. They were allowed into the building to use the restroom, for lunch and to mark themselves present at classes, according to students.
The students were gathering signatures to show how many disagreed with the mask mandates, which student leaders said totaled between 300 and 400 by the end of the school day.
The goal of the protest was to make masks optional, rather than a requirement, on district property. FUSD has had a mask requirement in place since the day before the start of the school year and, at its last meeting, set plans to discuss a potential end date for its Feb. 22 meeting.
The district sent an email to families before the event, outlining its response to the protest.
“While FUSD is supportive of students’ constitutional rights to assemble peacefully and free expression, students are not entitled to impinge on the safety of others or the school’s ability to maintain order,” it said.
Coconino High School principal Stacie Zanzucchi also spent most of Monday on the school’s football field. She said she supported her students and that it was her responsibility as a district employee to uphold its policies.
“The students are really courageous. They really feel like they have something, a voice that they need to send out, and this is their way to do it,” she said.
For more, see Wednesday’s Arizona Daily Sun.
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