Ok - so this past Monday, the Coeur d'Alene District School Board voted to extend the mask requirement for all students and staff for two more weeks in order to see if cases were going to rise because of spring break last week. Even though the county recently got rid of mask requirements.

Parents and students then organized a no-mask protest day today. Students who wanted to take part would simply go to class not wearing a mask or remove it once let inside. Some parents and students protested outside certain schools with homemade signs and such. All and all, a very peaceful demonstration.

Well, at Canfield Middle School over 50 kids were escorted to marked “isolation” rooms because they were not wearing masks.

Kids were told they couldn’t eat lunch or get water unless they wore a mask. They were not even allowed to leave the room to attend lunch period with other students (who all get to remove masks and sit shoulder to shoulder while eating normally), they were not provided lunch or water while being isolated. Some students were allowed to leave the room on a strict time limit to get water at drinking stations.

Some students were frightened at witnessing their friends and fellow students being escorted to marked isolation rooms.

Parents of isolated students were showing up throughout the morning and into afternoon to either pick up their children or speak with them before some returned to classes after deciding to wear masks again.

It appears the disciplinary actions were premeditated to the extent that empty rooms with signs were available for non-mask wearers.

Some teachers allowed maskless students to remain in their classrooms without a problem, but as different periods brought different classrooms, other teachers were not so tolerant.

Keep in mind, Idaho has never had a mask mandate, and the county removed their mandate recently.

The school board will be reconvening on Monday for a special session, perhaps to address the disciplinary actions taken at this school and possibly others.

One parent stated in our FB group: "My daughter said there was at least three full rooms of maskless kids at Canfield today. Certain classrooms were labeled with signs that said "Isolation Room." She thought it was kind of scary because she didn't know what the school was going to do about it. She kept her mask on because she was scared. These poor kids."

Another parent wrote: My son was in "segregation isolation" at Canfield all day for refusing to wear a mask! He was not allowed food or water, they told him he had to wear a mask if he wanted a drink or food and then he wold have to go to his classes if he was going to get lunch or a drink!! My son sat in a room for 6 hours with nothing to drink."