Looking at the mask-less faces of some of the students in his classroom, the AP Government and Economics teacher Sean Regan is relived that he is no longer required to wear a face covering while working. 

“I think [masks] should be optional,” Regan said. “I’m glad that everyone has a choice about it. If they do [choose to wear a mask] or not it doesn’t bother me. I’m happy for them either way. I think for some people [masks] make them feel safer which is a good thing. But on the other side, it can make it harder for some people to be understood and communicate in class. I don’t think that much into it. In general I think people are way too fired up about it.”

Regan said that sometimes people will try to pressure him into wearing one but he ignores them. He said he has not had to deal with that in the school setting. 

“Some people wear them, some people don’t,” senior Morgan Gaines said. “I feel like as a whole the masks aren’t really affecting the school that much. No one really says anything about it. It’s probably a good idea to still wear them because we’re still in a pandemic.”

Gaines said excluding gym and lunch, she keeps a mask on.

“I think the people who didn’t want to wear masks weren’t wearing them anyway or at least they weren’t wearing them right,” she said. “I wear a mask just in case someone else has [COVID-19], or if I have it I don’t want to be responsible for giving it to other people.”

Eighth-grader Bryce D. said wearing a mask should be required. 

“As someone who has had family members be incredibly sick with COVID-19, it is so disheartening to see people not care about the lives of other people,” Bryce said. “People always like to claim that it is against their rights as stated in the constitution, but it’s not. It’s a piece of cloth, it’s not like it’s going against your rights as a human being.”

She said that it is only acceptable not to wear a mask if you have a health condition that prevents you from doing so. 

“Of course people can do whatever they want with their body,” she said. “But I feel like they should respect other people who may have family members who have health conditions that will make them catch COVID-19 easier.”