Parents Claim Kindergartener Sent Home from School for Struggling to Wear Mask

A kindergartener in Plano, Texas, was reportedly kicked out of her class on September 24 because she had trouble wearing a mask, her parents say.

Erica King’s five-year-old daughter, Victoria Gissandaner, was reassigned to remote learning just two weeks after she was back on campus at Plano Independent School District’s (ISD) Gulledge Elementary, according to CBS 11.

The kindergartener’s teacher called one week into the semester to say Victoria was having difficulty wearing a mask.

“She’s having a little trouble with wearing a mask, but nothing big that we can’t take care of,” her father, Patrick Gissandaner, recalled being told.

After finding a better fitting one for the five-year-old, the school gave her mother a positive update on September 23.

“She did great. The mask only came down like three times and she put it right back on,” King said.

However, the next day an assistant principal reportedly told King her daughter would have to stay home, attend classes online, and be reassigned to a new class for online learning.

“That’s how I was aware that Victoria was basically getting kicked out of kindergarten,” King told CBS 11.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends children two years of age and older wear masks in public and when they are with people who do not live with them.

However, the CDC said in July that “the best available evidence indicates that [Chinese coronavirus] poses relatively low risks to school-aged children.  Children appear to be at lower risk for contracting [Chinese coronavirus] compared to adults,” according to its website.

Plano ISD did not discuss Victoria’s case with CBS 11 but provided guidance on how administrators handled such situations.

“If students refuse to put a mask back on or have repeated issues, it advises, parents should be called and students sent home for a day. If it happens again, students are reassigned to remote learning,” the outlet said.

But online learning is not an option for her parents because they have to work every day.

“Victoria’s parents say she was never sent home and that they were never warned the school could overrule their decision to send her in person over her trouble keeping a mask on her face,” the CBS report said.

Now, the kindergartener’s parents said they have a few weeks to get her used to wearing a face shield before she can return to the classroom, adding that she is eager to go back.

“She’s like, ‘I’ll wear my mask. I want to go to school,'” her mother concluded.