Yesterday was the first day in two years that roughly 8,000 students in the Liberty Union High School District in Brentwood, CA, were allowed to choose whether or not they were going to wear a mask in the classroom, a decision long overdue.
Thanks to one of our very own TPUSA students, Brayden Haena’s speech at the district’s board meeting Monday evening helped convince the council to stop enforcing the state’s school mask mandate two weeks prior to California’s timeline. In a 3-2 vote, the Liberty Union High School District in Brentwood decided to defy Governor Newsom’s hypocritical school mask mandate and allow students to ditch the masks altogether at their own discretion. This decision contradicts the current policy, which removes students from the classroom if they choose not to comply with the mask mandate.
Listen to this courageous and honest speech addressed to the Liberty Union High School District Board Members given by TPUSA student activist Brayden Haena:
In the clip above, Brayden was heard saying that the teachers are not the police and there is no reason for them to “play cop.” He went on to explain that he has a right in the state of California to receive an education, and the district should be ready to get sued by the parents in the district for enforcing this unscientific mask mandate onto their children.
California’s indoor mask mandate is set to expire on March 12, although students are highly recommended to continue wearing masks in schools despite the “science.” Many teachers in the district have expressed concern with this decision and are taking the side of the teacher’s unions in fear of being sued by the state.
In contrast, several parents and students are relentless about ending the mask requirement once and for all. One mother of two Liberty High students said she “remember[s] too well being asked to wait for two weeks; in fact, that was 104 weeks ago,” she said. “We’re not willing to wait two more weeks, two days, or even two hours.”
Liberty Union Board President Erick Stonbarger agreed with the concerned parents stating, “We failed in the first two weeks (of the pandemic), we failed them when we sent them home two years ago, we failed them when we didn’t bring them back to class in 2020. We failed when we brought them back to class and continued to do harm (with mask mandates).”
Now, thanks to these persistent students, parents, and TPUSA student activists, Liberty Union is one less school district that will hold its students to hypocritical, unfavorable, and foolish mandates that contradict the facts and science we know to be true. Great job, Brayden. Keep standing up for what you believe in!
