Student protests against the state’s mask mandate for Washington schools spread across all of East Lewis County this week.
While some school districts have encouraged students to stop protesting and to return to class, some of the student protests across Lewis County have garnered the support of local officials, law enforcement and school administrators.
Morton Superintendent John Hannah said “our comment has been to our kids, and it's the comment we I've shared with the community (is that) they have a right to free speech and they have a right to exercise it. We encourage that. And our hope has been (that) they do it in a respectful way, which ours are doing.”
State Superintendent Chris Reykdal released a statement on Wednesday advocating for the state Department of Health and Gov. Jay Inslee’s office to lift the statewide mandate and to instead let local health departments make that decision for students in K–12 schools.
“My recommendation today reflects my belief that the benefits of making this change outweigh the ongoing impacts on the learning environment as well as the challenges of maintaining a fixed statewide policy,” said Reykdal in the statement.
Inslee announced Feb. 9 that the outdoor mask mandate for gatherings of 500 people or more would be lifted by Feb. 18, and stated he would have a date for the end of the indoor mask mandate sometime next week. However, Inslee has yet to make a statement directly on the mask mandate in Washington schools.
