Superintendent Greg Upham reinstated the mask mandate in Billings School District 2 on August 22, meaning students, staff, and visitors will need to wear a mask while in the school buildings. The mandate came after being notified of a covid-19 outbreak at Skyview High School involving one of the school’s teams. While this is not the only reason Mr. Upham made this call, it is one of the main reasons.
After hearing the announcement many Billings residents voiced their opinions at Pioneer Park in hopes to push back the mandate. And again, they voiced their opinion on August 24 on the lawn of the courthouse with over a hundred of people of all ages in attendance. When talking with a group of school kids ages ranging from 9 to13, they all had the same opinion: they are uncomfortable in the mask, and it’s hard to concentrate. One 10-year old’s parent had no choice but to home school her due to the added heath issues the mask has on her breathing. But the parent said they have no problem sending her to school once the mandate is off. When talking to some of the people at the gathering, I came across two school teachers who said if it was up to them, they would let the parents make the choice. One of the teachers has two school-age children that do go to school, and if they had the choice, they would not be wearing masks. There were people there that did not have children, but felt the need to show their support for the families as well. One lady said, “It should be the parents’ choice not the government’s. That is why I am here.”
On the podium with many flags around them and the Montana Purple Heart Memorial in the background, they opened with a prayer from Pastor Abe Madinger, from the Life Source Church. Pastor Abe, made the statement, “I’m here to support the freedom of parents to be the ones that make the decisions on the needs for their children, not the school system or anybody else.”
Elsie Arntzen, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, took a turn on the stage as well. When asked how she feels about the mandate Elsie said, “I believe in local control. That begins with parents’ voices! Our children’s future in education must move forward and support appropriate choice measures to safely open our schools for learning.”
The gathering was very peaceful, but spoke volumes on how some of the community feels about the mandate on masks.
