For the 2021-2022 school year, masks should be OPTIONAL for all students K-12. To wear a mask or not wear a mask should be a family choice, not a school district mandate. 

Parents are the ultimate authority and protector of their children and can thus, determine what is best.  If a parent is scared, they have the right to keep their kids home if they feel they are too at risk.  Parents also have the right to send their child to school in a mask, if they so choose, and parents should also have the choice to send their child to school without a mask. 

There are significant social, emotional, and intellectual toils that mask wearing causes to our children.  When masks are worn these toils are harming ALL of the children ALL the time.  Children are more scared, more depressed and much less trusting than they were just a year ago.  Our kids deserve a childhood where they can see the smile of their teacher, play on playground with their friends, and have the basic freedoms we all had growing up.   Another mask mandate would be an unacceptable burden for so many children who, after last year, now hate school. 

Learning should bring joy and delight, not fear and oppression. 

By signing this petition, we are boldly proclaiming that we DO NOT SUPPORT mask mandates in our schools.