© 2026 ABC News

While Peoples' photo of her son quickly went viral, Mason is not the only student who chose to keep a mask on for school photos this year, according to Matthew Comfort, branch manager for Dorian Studio, the photography studio that took Mason's school photo.

\"We've taken hundreds and hundreds of students this fall wearing their masks,\" Comfort told \"Good Morning America.\" \"It's not an isolated incident.\"

Comfort said that Dorian Studio first asks schools if they want to give students the option to remove their mask for their school photo. If the school allows masks to be removed for the photo, then the photographer gives each student the option.

The photographer who took Mason's school photo on Sept. 7th, followed the guidelines correctly in giving Mason the option to take off his mask and then in following his request to leave it on, according to Comfort.

\"PHOTO:
Dorian Studio
PHOTO: Mason Peoples, a first-grade student in Las Vegas, took his school photo wearing a face mask.
>

\"If students don't want to [remove their mask] because of safety concerns, we don't push them,\" she said. \"[The photographer] did exactly what she was supposed to do.\"

Mason's now-viral school photo with his mask on is a sign of the times, as it is now the third school year in a row upended by the coronavirus pandemic.

Both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend that face masks be worn at schools by both vaccinated and unvaccinated people.

","canonicalUrl":"https://abcnews.com/GMA/Family/year-boy-moms-instruction-leave-mask-school-wears/story?id=80264270","legacySlug":"/family/story/year-boy-moms-instruction-leave-mask-school-wears-80264270","noIndexNoFollow":false},"publishTime":"20:20","publishDate":"09-27-2021","updatedTime":"13:58","updatedDate":"09-28-2021","socialImage":{"alt":"Mason Peoples, a first-grade student in Las Vegas, took his school photo wearing a face mask.","credit":"Dorian Studio","ratio":"16x9","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/mason-peoples-school-photo-ht-jc-210927_1632771993948_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg","width":992,"height":558},"datePublished":"9/27/2021 20:20:00 GMT","video":{"live":false,"id":80264270,"headline":"6-year-old wears mask in viral school picture","mediaAssetTitle":"GMA_Boy school mask photo_210927","description":"The boy's mom shared the photo in a Facebook post.","duration":"NaN:NaN","posterImg":{"url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","width":608,"height":342},"video":{},"playlist":["73001599","71525296","75513248"]},"relatedItems":[{"contentType":"story","date":"September 15, 2020","headline":"How fit and placement influence effectiveness of face masks","section":"wellness","slug":"/wellness/story/fit-placement-influence-effectiveness-face-masks-73001599","id":73001599,"image":{"alt":"How fit and placement influence effectiveness of face masks","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/gma-mask-experiment-covid-06-sh-llr-200914_1600100935353_hpMain_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"STOCK IMAGE/Tamara Pechena/Shutterstock ","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"story","date":"June 30, 2020","headline":"Face masks vs. face shields: What should we be wearing?","section":"wellness","slug":"/wellness/story/face-masks-face-shields-wearing-71525296","id":71525296,"image":{"alt":"Face masks vs. face shields: What should we be wearing?","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/200630_gma_worley3_hpMain_1x1_240.jpg","credit":"ABCNews.com","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"story","date":"January 27, 2021","headline":"Old Navy introduces activewear face masks for adults and kids","section":"style","slug":"/style/story/navy-introduces-activewear-face-masks-adults-kids-75513248","id":75513248,"image":{"alt":"Old Navy introduces activewear face masks for adults and kids","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/old-navy-active-masks-01-ht-jc-210127_1611765052520_hpMain_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"Old Navy","ratio":"1x1"}}],"relatedContentSection":"news","schemaContent":{"name":"6-year-old wears mask in viral school picture","description":"The boy's mom shared the photo in a Facebook post.","duration":"NaN:NaN","uploadDate":"09-27-2021","publication":"09-27-2021","images":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","link":"https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/family/story/year-boy-moms-instruction-leave-mask-school-wears-80264270"}},"playlist":[{"id":"132714218","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132701634","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132706335","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132675442","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132665875","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132628890","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132569874","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132567885","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132510121","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132473181","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132497933","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132281378","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132283010","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132273278","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132231169","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132206748","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132200241","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132054443","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132054798","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132033010","contentType":"story","section":"news"}],"kvps":{"pgtyp":"article","lang":"en","sp":"goodmorningamerica","programmatic":"true","bundleId":"com.abcnews"}},"analytics":{"accountID":"wdgnewwdgnewgmaweb","ns":"gma","pageName":"gma:family:video","pageType":"video","globalSpecVersion":"v1.08","siteDifferentiator":"gma:site","tagID":"g_page01","userABCookie":"0","section":"family","title":"6-year-old wears mask in viral school picture","pubTime":"16:20","pubDate":"09-27-2021","modTime":"09:58","modDate":"09-28-2021","taxonomyTags":"none","id":80264270,"editorialOtherSubjects":"","wordCount":"none","columns":"none","authors":"","authorsUnit":"none","authorsBureau":"none","subBrand":"Good Morning America","provider":"Good Morning America","videoName":"6-year-old wears mask in viral school picture","mediaAssetTitle":"GMA_Boy school mask photo_210927","videoId":80264270,"mediaOnPage":"video","legacySlug":"/family/story/year-boy-moms-instruction-leave-mask-school-wears-80264270"},"taboola":{}},"request":{"headers":{},"httpVersion":"1.1","method":"GET","url":"/video/80264270","vary":{"host":"www.goodmorningamerica.com","cached":true,"path":"/video/80264270","forwarded-proto":"https","device":"desktop","userab":"0"}},"viewport":{"width":1260,"height":0},"user":{}};