Not all Tacoma kids are ready to ditch masks in school. The reasons might surprise you
Next week, when students arrive at Foss High School in Tacoma for classes on Monday, many will do so without a piece of protection that’s been with them for nearly two years: a mask.
That’s because, at 11:59 p.m. Friday night, Washington’s mask mandate will come to an end — clearing the way for schools across the state to ditch the unfortunately controversial face coverings that have become ubiquitous in educational settings.
Rhiannon Pipersky, a 17-year-old senior at Foss, just won’t be one of them.
Last week, Pipersky said she was in no hurry to remove her mask, and she wasn’t alone.
“I’m kind of comfortable wearing it. It makes me feel safe,” Pipersky told The News Tribune, explaining that she has friends and family who remain vulnerable to COVID-19.
“I want to protect my family, and then just protect the other people around me,” Pipersky said. “I know a lot of people at school have grandparents they live with that are more at risk. I don’t want them to get hurt or get sick.”
I spoke with Pipersky last week, during a morning planning period in her busy academic schedule. Sitting off to the side of biology teacher Tashi Langton’s humming classroom, Pipersky — and a number of her classmates, many of whom spent time this year studying misinformation related to COVID-19 vaccines — provided perspectives that feel sorely lacking from the national debate over masking in school.
That was the point.
As we enter the pandemic’s third year, we know all too well what the politicians have to say. We know where the angry parents who have besieged school board meetings across the country stand, and we know the data and evidence public health experts typically cite.
For whatever reason, we’ve spent far less time actually listening to the students, which leaves a gaping hole in the conversation.
The News Tribune interviewed six Foss High School students. All of them said they planned to keep wearing a mask, and most of them said that the concerns often fretted over by adults — like the fear that masks cant stunt social and emotional growth or rob youngsters of a valuable school experience — feel foreign to them and vastly overblown.
Pipersky said that transitioning from middle school to high school during a pandemic has been challenging, but masks have had little to do with it.
“I think it’s mostly the adults that fight with each other about it,” Pipersky said. “If you ask the kids’ opinion, they’ll probably say that they want to wear (a mask). It’s just the adults speaking for them.”
Evenly split
With only a few days remaining under the state’s mask mandate, it’s clear that opinions differ. One look at the student sections at last week’s high school basketball state championship tournament tells the tale. Even with the state mandate in place, compliance has been mixed.
At Foss, when the mandate expires, Pipersky and other students predicted more of the same — with most estimating that roughly half of their peers will take their masks off, while the other half leave it on.
“I kind of see a 50-50. I know there are many people like me that want to keep their mask on, but there’s definitely a large population that feels better not wearing a mask,” said 14-year-old Kevin Thai, a Foss ninth grader. “So I think it’ll be pretty evenly split.”
Katie Mingus, another Foss ninth grader, agreed.
“It’s probably going to be split. ... There’s some kids who don’t like wearing masks, so there are some people who are definitely going to take them off,” Mingus said. “But I think a lot of people will keep wearing them.”
According to Langton, who also coaches soccer at Foss, the assessment provided by his students feels accurate. Langton said that while he’s spent much of the last two school years reminding some students to mask up, most seem to have embraced the public health measure. He doesn’t anticipate a mass unmasking next week.
“Based on polling my classes and polling my soccer team, I think kids will continue to wear them, even though they’re not mandated by the state or by our district. I already told my soccer team that because I can’t mandate (masks outside) anymore, it’s just going to be highly encouraged,” Langton said.
“But just by talking to people, it seems like most people will continue to wear them.”
Self-confidence
To a student, each Foss student interviewed by The News Tribune said that their primary motivation for continuing to wear a mask at school will be protecting the health and safety of their family and the broader community.
But there were plenty of other reasons why they expected mask wearing to continue, including some that might seem surprising to adults, at least until you remember how awkward and difficult being a teenager can be.
Last month, Los Angeles Times reporter Deborah Netburn wrote about California’s indoor mask mandate ending in local schools. After speaking with eighth graders at her son’s school, Netburn walked away with a realization much like the one I had after interviewing Foss students:
Over the last two years, many students have become comfortable wearing masks, and some now view them as a welcome addition to their wardrobe and their adolescent defense system.
Masks haven’t just protected their health, they’ve helped to fend off scrutiny about the way they look, or even the food that might be stuck in their teeth.
In short, as Foss ninth grader Nya Chapman put it: “I like wearing a mask. It helps me feel less insecure.”
“You can only see half my face, and I have braces, so I don’t want people to see the braces,” Chapman said. “Being a teenage girl, it’s harder … to gain more confidence. So it’s easier to have half your face blocked.”
As Netburn reported, there’s emerging science behind the phenomenon students describe, even if it might be hard for some adults to fathom or leave them fearful about the potential of lasting impacts. Studies have shown that people are often perceived as more attractive when they wear a mask, Netburn noted, and that alone can provide powerful motivation for young people fumbling their way through young adulthood and the self-consciousness that comes along with it.
Andrew Fuligni, the director of the Adolescent Development Lab at UCLA, assured LA Times readers that students’ reluctance to unmask is nothing to worry about.
It’s been two years, after all, and re-acclimating will take time, Fuligni explained.
“They don’t know what is going to happen; they don’t know what to expect,” Fuligni said. “They haven’t done this kind of thing completely uncovered for a long time.”
‘No real end to this thing’
While all six of the Foss High School students interviewed by The News Tribune said they planned to continue wearing a mask even after the state mandate ends, each had a slightly different take on how long they’re likely to hold out and the circumstances that might make them comfortable enough to change their mind.
Ellen Yeary, a Foss ninth grader, said she simply isn’t sure. Having tracked previous spikes in Pierce County, she worries that removing masks too soon might lead to increased transmission and the need to reinstate a mandate in school.
“It feels like there’s no real end to this thing,” Yeary said. “I think it’s pretty likely for it to come back.”
For now, Yeary said she’s not bothered by her mask and is grateful to have it.
If anything, Yeary wishes people would take the time to listen to her and her classmates, instead of making assumptions or jumping to conclusions about what the last two years of COVID-19 has been like for them.
“I feel like a lot of times, the adults are arguing from their perspective without really (considering) the children’s perspectives,” Yeary said.
“No one really asks us about this stuff.”
This story was originally published March 10, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
