A controversial post made by a SJHHS student on their personal Instagram account encouraging students to protest the mask mandate by declining to wear a mask on campus has sparked intense debate among students on social media. 

The original post urged students to respectfully demonstrate their opinions by saying  “We must take action and protect our liberties. We need to stand together and make change,” and encouraged like minded students to peacefully protest by saying, “If your teacher asks you to put on a mask or asks you if you need a mask, reply with ‘no thank you’”. 

While the account who published the original post has gone private, the following post, with 1000+ likes and 1400+ comments, from a separate student has gained popularity due to its counter argument against the original student. The second post opposed the views of the first student by saying “if you want to get rid of masks so bad… wear it and take safety precautions so this all ends sooner.”

The post also touched on a larger discussion about how class affects one’s approach to Covid., As the second post said, “Half of our school is built up of low income families, minorities. Low income families cannot afford their children getting sick of COVID-19 and its variants. Not everyone like you has the money to be okay with not going to work for two weeks.”

Activities director Brooke Valderrama sent an email to the Stallion community concerning the activity on social media, encouraging respectful discourse on and off campus, especially on social media. Valderrama reminded all students of the mask mandate and said that “the guidelines in CUSD, Orange County and the State of California have not changed,” and that if there is change it will be clearly communicated to the community.