Texas father takes off clothes during school meeting to advocate for mask use Register for free to continue reading

A father in Texas stripped down to his boxers during a school board meeting to defend the institution of a mask mandate.

James Akers, a parent of a high school student in the Dripping Springs Independent School District west of the state capital of Austin, used his 90 seconds to speak at the Aug. 23 meeting to urge the district to institute protocols of masks in schools despite the drawbacks associated with the use of masks.

“I don't like the government, or any other entity, just ask my wife when she tells me what to do,” Akers said as he stripped off his shirt and jacket. "But sometimes, I have to go a little further and I've just decided that I'm not just going to pay lip service, I'm going to take action."

“At work, they make me wear this jacket. Which I hate. They make me wear this shirt and tie. Which I hate," he said.

“To get here, I ran three stop signs and four red lights,” he added. “I almost killed someone out there, but by God, it's my streets too. So I have every right to drive as fast as I want, to do as many laps as I want. I got to school today and the parking lot was full and I decided I was going to park wherever I wanted, which in this case, happened to be a handicap space,” he said and took off his pants to cheers and boos from the crowd. surrounding.

“It's a simple protocol, folks. We follow certain rules for a very good reason," Akers told the school board wearing only his underwear.

Masks are currently optional in the district, and Akers was urging the school board to institute a mask mandate. She said that she has had three children who have gone to school in the district, where she has lived for 15 years.

Board chairwoman Barbara Stroud used her gavel to restore order amid the noise in the room.

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“Mr. Akers, I get it, I think you're a swimmer, but if you wouldn't mind putting your pants back on for a comment, I'd appreciate it,” Stroud said.

Two police officers approached Akers, who simply picked up his clothes and walked back to his seat, fist bumping one of the officers as he walked away.

The school district's health protocol says that as of Aug. 6 masks are optional in schools, though the board said Aug. 16 it would recommend mask-wearing on campus, but chose not to go anymore there and make it a mandate.

Akers later told KXAN that she "took her clothes off in front of the whole board to make a point about social norms and what we do every day, living together."

“There are too many voices out there that I think are being stubborn for political reasons and without any thought to the common sense decisions we make every day to comply with everything from driving on the highway, to being safe, to being courteous to other drivers, until we park in handicapped spots,” Akers added. "All these rules that we're given every day we follow because they make sense."

According to the covid tracker in The New York Times, 49 percent of people are fully vaccinated in Hays County, Texas, which includes Dripping Springs.

Hospitalizations have increased 36 percent in the past two weeks, and 21 people have died in the county during that time. A total of 27,244 cases have been reported since the start of the pandemic: one in eight residents has been infected. August has been the month with the highest average number of new cases in the county.

The test positivity rate is high in the county, which means the number of reported cases could represent an undercount. The CDC recommends that vaccinated people also wear masks in the district due to the high spread of the virus in the area.