Masks. Do. Not. Work. At least, not when it comes to taking bites of food and masticating. Dreadful idea all around.
Even as a “virtue signal”, masks are becoming an epic fail. The psychological damage alone should be an overwhelming argument against their use among school children of ANY age.
Years ago, the Frito-Lay snack food commercials included a jingle about the Frito Bandito, Ai, yai, yai. Kids were putting bandanas over their faces and stealing the snack-sized bags off the grocery store displays. Frito-Lay had to stop the campaign, as vendors were suffering a great deal from such pilferage. Didn’t do much for the behavior of the kids, either.
Be very, very careful how masks are used.
Things were much simpler when I went to school many decades ago. Teachers ran drills where we were taught to duck and cover under our desks, in case of a nuclear attack by the Soviets. Even though our multi-level school was a mile from ground zero in SF with the windows facing a potential blast.
It's all about indoctrinating kids to think that authorities are protecting kids, when in reality it's all about control.