High School Claims They Didn't Barricade Unmasked Students in Gym; Tables Were Just Accidentally Placed in Front of Each Exit

By Jennifer Van Laar | 6:08 PM on February 04, 2022

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*Folding tables were placed in front of the exit doors of a high school gymnasium in Oakdale, CA, in which unmasked students were held.*

As we reported Thursday night, a high school in Oakdale, California barricaded students who came to school without a mask in the school gym and wouldn’t turn the heat on. Eventually police were called to the scene to turn on the heat, but we’ve now learned that by that time many of the students had moved the barricades – which were folding tables strategically placed in front of all of the exits – and marched up to the district office, where they joined a group of parents already protesting mask mandates.

Update: Confirmed staff attempted to barricade the maskless high schoolers in the gym by putting tables in front of the exits. A staff member also was caught turning down the thermostat to “freeze them out.” Here is one of the photos taken by a student. pic.twitter.com/SckZIG5Tm0

— Reopen California Schools (@ReopenCASchools) February 4, 2022

They walked up the street cheering, “Let’s Go, Oakdale!”

What a beautiful sight.

Oakdale parent Brandi Hall told RedState that the number of students participating has grown each day due to what happened Tuesday at the elementary school. Jerry Wilson reported Thursday night that Jennifer Poth’s 8-year-old son went to school without a mask Tuesday in peaceful protest, and that he and another boy were forced to sit outside in 43-degree weather while the school called their parents to pick them up. Hall added that the boys were seated at desks outdoors, without jackets, and unsupervised, and that the other boy was only 7 years old.

When word spread on social media about how the boys were treated, the older students decided to join the protest to support these brave boys.

RedState has also learned through interviews with Oakdale parents that the school district claims that the students were never barricaded, but that the tables were in the way when they needed room to contain the students who showed up without a mask, so janitors were moving the tables and they were just placed somewhere while the school figured out what to do with the tables. It’s incredible that the janitors randomly placed the tables in front of the exits scattered around the gym, where they’d cause a fire hazard.

If they think anyone believes that for even half a second, well, they think we’re pretty dumb.