Safe Redlands Schools Collecting Masks for Teachers and Staff

Safe Redlands Schools is hosting a mask drive to provide teachers and certificated staff with quality masks for the classroom. The group has already obtained over 1000 n95s and will continue to collect more through the weekend.

Those who wish to donate can drop masks off at Brookside Park on February 10 from 4-6pm or Sylvan Park on February 12 from 12-3pm.

A Safe Redlands Schools Instagram post says, “Proper masks (Disposable, n95s) get used up quick with kids and teachers using them everyday 7+ hours a day. When these masks get overused they break down and provide less protection. We want to keep a fresh supply on hand for those who need them the most.”

Organizer and parent Trisha Keeling told the People’s Redlands Post that the group’s core organizers brainstormed ways to help the community besides rallying speakers for school board meetings and combatting misinformation (she noted these are equally important and the group is not going to stop these activities).

An informal poll showed support for safe, masked meetups for kids, but due to the Omicron surge, this was postponed. As a number of teachers had contacted Safe Redlands Schools saying they hadn’t gotten N95 masks, or had only received one or two, the group pursued their plan B instead.

Inland Empire Harm Reduction saw a post about the drive and told Safe Redlands Schools to “come on down” to get 1000 n95s they had ready to go. Keeling donated 250 additional kn95s. Organizer Stephanie Palaad has collected numerous masks from other supporters, and Keeling said there are a “number of promises to come to the donation drive.”

The next question, Keeling said, became “How do we get them to the teachers?” They decided to take them to Redlands Teachers Association, as President Susan Abt was familiar with Safe Redlands Schools. Keeling said they are “not going to wait” to distribute the masks. “People are getting them,” she said.

The group has received some pushback for the drive. Keeling said organizer Felipe Albertao has sent mass texts asking for donations and some people have responded that teachers already get masks from their school sites. This “may be true,” Keeling said. “We don’t want to throw the district under the bus, but a number of teachers have asked us.”

Though the government is sending masks to pharmacies, Keeling said, “there are only so many times you can reuse them. We need a hefty supply.”

Between January 24 and February 7, Redlands Unified School District reported 422 confirmed new cases of Covid-19, or 1.9% of the district’s enrollment and staff. This is down from over 5% in the weeks following winter break.

According to the CDC, “Masks and respirators (i.e., specialized filtering masks such as “N95s”) can provide different levels of protection depending on the type of mask and how they are used. Loosely woven cloth products provide the least protection, layered finely woven products offer more protection, well-fitting disposable surgical masks and KN95s offer even more protection, and well-fitting NIOSH-approved respirators (including N95s) offer the highest level of protection.”