Some Parents in Smithtown continued their fight to unmask their children at school, as some others had their kids vaccinated against COVID-19 on Saturday.

Last Friday, Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Department of Health instituted a mask mandate for students and staff.

"We as the parents want to be able to make choices for our children. We don't want the school or government to parent our children. We're just asking for parent's choice in terms of mask mandates," said Renee Murphy, of St. James.

The parents said they want to join other communities across Long Island in a lawsuit against New York state's mandate.

The mask mandate comes at a time when children under the age of 12 have yet to get approval for a COVID-19 vaccine, and as the delta variant continues to lead to a surge in new cases across the country.

Meantime, some parents brought their kids ages 12 and up to the Henry L. Stimson Middle School in Huntington to get their first vaccine.

"It's just a very important thing. Keep myself safe, my family safe, my friends," Williams said.

"The school reached out to us​, they said they were having a pop-up and we signed her up right away, so it was good," Blot said.

Hochul also says she wants to institute a COVID-19 vaccine-or-test mandate for teachers and staff in schools.

The South Huntington Schools superintendent says that based on the Department of Health, the district will be working with all staff in developing a plan going forward.

The second dose of the vaccine will be administered at the school in three weeks.

MORE: State of Our Schools