"Today was a hard emotional day for me. Today I stood my ground and I was very adamant to standing up for what's right and making it known it's not a safe environment no longer being in a hot classroom with no Air conditioning with temperatures yesterday of 96° and today was a high of 86° masked and slaved to concentrate and do work at our desks with sweat pouring off of me," Jenna Miller said in an Instagram post, accompanied by a picture of her leaving her Saugerties, New York, school.
The 11-year-old student said that her hobby of riding BMX races in the hot summer makes it easier for her to deal with heat, but sitting in her hot classroom all day with a mask and no air conditioning became too much for her to take.
"I love the heat I know what it's like to be in the heat I race Bmx year around in full uniform the only difference is I come off the track soaking wet I'm able to drink freely, I'm able to breathe in the fresh air without a muzzle to my face this is inhumane," Miller said.
Miller likened the mask requirement to leaving a dog in a hot car, while pointing out that school leadership has opportunities to unmask and enjoy air conditioning throughout the day.
"Today's the day I said to myself I don't [know] if I'm going to make it through the entire school day because of the Constant pressure from the teachers yelling at me to muzzle myself. Today was the day I said no. I was kicked out of school because I was not being compliant with mask orders in a poorly ventilated classroom. This is the true definition of child abuse in my eyes. You don't leave a dog in the car... you certainly don't control us kids being in a hot classroom with a mask over our face."Miller's stand against masking also earned her an interview with ABC News 10 about the situation.
"All of the administrators get to sit and bark orders from their air-conditioned offices in business suits on not masked. I don't know what statement they are trying to make for us. Today was the day I said no more. I hope this picture goes viral and to just know your in control of your body The board of education is not."
"Well, at first when we started it was really hard concentrating with the mask on for, like, six hours, but when it was nice and cold out, I think it was a little easier. Now that it's getting so hot, I'm really against it. It's really hard," Miller told the outlet. "Two hours into, like, our class, it was just so hot in there that I felt like I couldn't breathe and I was gonna pass out."
The student's mother, Kelly Miller, said that she was proud of her daughter for being outspoken about the issue.
"I'm so proud of her for stepping up and protecting herself, enough to where she chose yesterday she knew that there was something wrong," the mother said. "You don't put a dog in a car, you don't put kids in a hot classroom."
Responding to the story, Rural Schools Association Executive Director David Little acknowledged that a lack of air conditioning is a common problem in New York's rural schools.
"Many schools are unprepared in hot weather, so it's always been easier to shut down by the time it gets really hot," Little said. "It would cost a fortune to put air conditioners into schools that don't already have it. If you happen to live in an area that doesn't have independent financial resources, you're probably not going to be going out anytime soon to get an air conditioning system, no matter how hot it gets."
"Mask or no mask — if it's 95 degrees outside and you don't have air-conditioning in the school, you're just not gonna learn a lot, right? It's just too uncomfortable to be there," he added.
Saugerties Central School District Superintendent Kirk Reinhardt said that the buildings within his school district do have some areas that contain air conditioning, a luxury the district has tried to make use of.
"We have some pockets within our facilities where there is air-conditioning, and we are utilizing the spaces," Reinhardt said.
When it comes to mandating masks, Reinhardt pointed to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state guidance that have handcuffed the district's ability to implement its own policy.
"I met with the principals this morning. We do have spaces within our building where the temperatures are different based on what floor they're on. They are giving teachers the opportunity to move their classrooms, once again making sure we're staying within CDC guidelines for COVID," Reinhardt said.
"Based on the governor's guidance, they are no longer required to wear masks when they're outside, so we put out a note to all our staff in fact on Sunday, reminding them the use of alternative spaces within the buildings, within the grounds, to increase the mask breaks, when needed increase opportunities for hydration," he added.
Reader Comments
Good for her, bad for the irrational idiots running the asylum.
FWIW, many of us down here (IN FLORIDA, not NY) did NOT have A.C. I had none in 7th and 8th grade, and it is HOT here. I wonder what I might have become of my life had some idiot tried to force a mask on me.
R.C.
A good friend of mine, ended up being a board member on a school board in Canada. He was the one responsible for cancelling school because of snow. I asked him, what's wrong with you cancelling school over 5cm (total snowfall over and done with before 7am). We went to school walking, some of us walking 2km or more, (as back in the 60's-70's in our community every parent didn't drive their kids to school like they do today, even if it's around the corner) through actual snow storms, they usually only let us out if it was still snowing hard at 1:30pm. Point being, we had to walk to and from in the midst of the snow storm. The only time they cancelled school in the morning is if their were already 20cm's of snow on the ground and the storm was not halfway over. His answer, times are different. Different how, I asked? I never got an answer.
We never had AC either (in NS). I got sent home to change my cloths one day, because I wore shorts (knowing this would happen). It was a good opportunity to kill an hour, as it took 20mins to walk home, 20 mins to change, 20 mins to walk back. Never even had to tell my parents.
RC
RC
I did work for a manufacturer, who was originally called ACME but was sold multiple times before I got there, only to be driven out of business by ACME from the USA.
No we didn't make Dynamite.
Do you know what dynamite's formula is? Remember the western films with the liquid explosive nitroglycerine? How it would explode if shaken? He just mixed it in with diatomaceous earth (and sawdust? I dunno) which stabilized it. (All as I recall.)
RC
The Left I can understand, making Greta into a fantasy heroine, some Disney princess to fit into their make-believe inner landscape of rainbows and dragons. -When in reality Greta is a mentally handicapped child who can't possibly have known what she was getting into or standing up for. That was practically child abuse, and her young adulthood is looking quite tragically out of her control.
This news article is dressed up make-believe with a similar cast of characters, if on a smaller scale. -But honestly, the Washington Examiner would have us believe this is the first time a kid has ever told a teacher, "No." (Or worse).
It happens every day, but this time the propagandists got involved, so now we get a stage-managed affair.
I hope that kid and her family will be okay.
Masks are dumb, sure. But if the population would grow up and take responsibility for their knowledge structures, they wouldn't need this kind of artificial fairy tale nonsense to lead them through the maze to the cheese.
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and the idiot twat leaders, what will they say and do?
= fuck all, cos the damage has been done.. this world indeed today is in great dep shit, and only getting worse!!
i have a med valid reason to not wear a mask, so many death stares, and pple i dont know and dont want to suddenly tried telling me what to do, or must do, and appeared to care about my health and well being, my answer to those kind
= fuck off!!..
well done to the child, stand tall, be brave, remember the shephard will tell his sheep whats good for himself, regardless of the sheep, yet the sheep will follow,
id rather be alone than be around those "sheep"..
RC
and today, still see these same individuals around, and now, just like before, they dont speak, dont approach, only untill another mask wearing rule comes in for them, then again, they will be told where to go.. if they approach..
the world we live in, hehe..
i believe im one of the nicest most polite person i know, i respect and appreciate, but to those whom single me out, because they feel they have too, at first im nice, they repeat the same approach, i fire a warning shot..
going by past issues and failed diplomacy, ive learned how this shit works, and i still smile at the end of the day,
thank you kindly sir for your reply, this may begin an awesome convo along the merry way.. have a pleasant day..