A Bay Area school district is not waiting two weeks to allow students to take their masks off.
The Liberty Union High School District in Brentwood voted to defy the state's masking mandate by making masks optional for students. Tuesday marked the first day 8,000 students in the district were able to ditch wearing a mask on campus.
"I think it's great," parent Lisa Matienzo said. "Both my kids went today unmasked and they're very happy about it."
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School district trustees at a meeting Monday voted 3 to 2 to stop enforcing the state's school masking mandate two weeks ahead of the state's deadline.
"The whole COVID experience has affected my daughter in a negative way so I hope this brings back normalcy for her," Matienzo said.
But the news is not sitting well with every single teacher. The president of the teacher's union says defying the state's mandate sends a bad message to students.
"I don't think that it's beneficial that the board blatantly and woefully created scofflaws of our students and staff," said Hillary Pedrotti, Liberty Education Association president.
The president of the board of trustees shared a letter to NBC Bay Area sent from the Northern California Regional Liability Excess fund warning the district if it does not comply with the state's mandate, the district may face lawsuits and those expenses will not be covered by insurance.
"I'm really expecting that my students will have their masks on because they respect each other," Pedrotti said.
