PSD students are coping with mask mandate

By Terry Murry on Wednesday, September 22nd, 2021 in Columbia Basin News Columbia Basin Top Stories

PENDLETON – Pendleton School Superintendent Chris Fritsch reports that students seem to be handling the face covering requirement with grace as they return to school.

“The students that are coming to school every day are doing a great job with keeping the masks on,” he said. “We allow them mask breaks.”

Fritsch said the breaks from wearing face coverings are being established by the individual teachers.

Some school boards in Oregon have made the decision to defy the state’s mask mandate. Fritsch said the Oregon School Boards Association has issued a warning that as elected officials, they have sworn an oath to honor the laws of the state. Fritsch said Pendleton’s board members will follow the law.

“I could probably name a few laws that I don’t particularly care for,” he said. “I think as a responsible citizen if that’s the law, my belief is and I was raised that we should follow a law. Randomly selecting which laws we’re going to disregard is, I think, a very slippery slope. The Pendleton School District is going to enforce the mandates because they’ve been written into the Oregon Administrative Regulations and Rules, so we’re going to follow the law.”