Clovis Unified parents continue to speak out against mask mandate for students

CLOVIS, Calif. (KFSN) -- Wednesday night, student after student stepped up to the podium at the Clovis Unified school board meeting.

Then parents followed.

One mom presented the board with hundreds of letters from parents opposed to masking up.

Later, a man who spoke in favor of masks was met with vocal opposition from the crowd

Heather Wolf and Vicki Framsted say their daughters were among a group of students at Red Bank Elementary School who chose not to wear a face-covering at school and were taken to the cafeteria to do independent work instead.

"We got a text message in a group message that our kids were on stage, in the cafeteria, basically on display," Heather said.

The mothers questioned why their kids weren't taken to a more appropriate setting -- like a spare classroom.

District officials say that moving a student to an alternate learning setting is the last resort when a student refuses to wear a mask.

"Sometimes, our schools are very full and every space is taken up, so it could be the multi-purpose room, it could be the multi-purpose room's stage, which we use for classroom space sometimes," says Clovis Unified Spokesperson Kelly Avants.

Avants says the district's hands are tied by state rules which say masks need to stay on.

State health officials will give another update on Feb. 28 to outline how they will move forward with masks in the classroom

Clovis Unified's board is set to meet again on March 2.