A California teacher has been placed on paid leave after teaching without a mask to participate in the student-led “No Mandate Monday” at his school.
Michael Wilkes, 38, is a teacher at Ponderosa High School in El Dorado County. Last month, a senior was forced to leave the campus after refusing to wear a mask. Students and some teachers gathered in support of the student and have been protesting the state’s mandates.
The students that do not wear masks are moved to a “non-compliance room”, explained Lexi Wagner, a senior at the high school.
“You get to be with other kids who aren’t wearing a mask,” Wagner said. “You get sent to a noncompliance room where there’s no instruction, and in some cases, they’ll take away your food from you”.
They’ve crossed a line when it comes to our kids. I think people that weren’t awake prior are awake now, and it’s time for people to stand up at this point and no longer comply.
Wilkes, who has received support from parents and families in the community, said the district is conducting an investigation and it is likely he will lose his job. “We need to unite with people that are like-minded and stand up across the board and simply say no to these mandates in order for them to stop,” he explained.
He noted that “California is the first state in the country that’s chosen to threaten all the way down to children as young as five years old that they’ll lose their education if they don’t take the vaccine”. “And so they put parents in this compromised position where they have to make this choice,” he added.
At the beginning of October, Governor Gavin Newsom announced plans to require a COVID-19 vaccine to attend in-person learning. For that to be implemented, full FDA approval is needed for the necessary age groups.