A father and son duo led an anti-mask protest at Jersey Community High School around 7:45 a.m. Tuesday.
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In an announcement post on January 28, Jeremy Laird encouraged parents to join him and “stand with our kids.”
“The walk-in protest will be led by my son Justin Laird who will be standing on the sidewalk directly in front of the high school ready to lead all students who are ready to walk into the school with no mask,” Laird said in the post. “I as a parent am taking the day off and will be parked directly in front of the school. Justin encourages all students to walk with him, I encourage all parents to park with me, to ensure all students have a ride home, should it come to that, let's stand with our kids, with our students, with our community. Make a sign and hope to see y'all there.”
On Tuesday morning, about 15 students and 11 adults - some of whom brought signs - showed up on the front steps of JCHS. Laird said more students joined his son as the protest moved indoors.
“The protest went well,” Laird said. “Once the sit-in started, an additional 15 students joined in. They were ushered into the auditorium where they would have been required to spend the rest of the day for failure to wear a mask. At that point, the 30 students staged a walkout.”
Laird added that the protestors were not met with hostility, but support.
“The community was very supportive as we were met with lots of honking as the traffic passed by our protest point,” Laird said. “The school administration and local police were very complimentary on the peaceful way we carried ourselves.”
Jersey Community High School Principal Cory Breden said he supported the students' right to protest.
"We had a group of kids and a group of community members that met out in front of our high school to show the state government their displeasure with the mask mandate in schools," Breden said. "I encourage our kids to use their voice. While they may be young adults - we have eighth-graders through seniors here - helping show them that their voice matters and they have a right to express their feelings."
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