Dear Members of the School Board, administrators from the Richland School District, and parents of children in Richland schools. We would like to publicly voice our commendation for the brave actions of School Board Members Kari Williams, Audra Byrd, and M. Semi Bird. For months the students and their parents have been asking the board to lift the mask mandate. We have even seen students lead protests against wearing masks, choosing to spend their day in isolation instead of wearing a mask.

We recognize that this was a difficult decision for them to make. There are strong opinions on both sides of this issue and each side cites the science and gives evidence to back up their opinion. When making the decision, they knew that no matter which option they chose, they would be upsetting people. We would like to thank them for making the difficult choice to listen to their constituents and to vote for mask choice.

We are saddened to see the anger that has arisen due to this decision. Richland School District is not the first school district to have removed the mask mandate in favor of mask choice. Most states around the country have removed that mandate from their schools. Richland School District is also not the only school district in the state to have removed the mask mandate. This is also not a decision that was rushed through, but has been deliberated upon in board meetings. The conclusion that these three board members reached is that it was in the best interest of the students to make masks optional and to let them decide if they wanted to mask up or not.

So thank you Kari, Audra, and Semi for having the courage to listen to the parents.  Thank you for teaching our kids that the school board does hear them.  Thank you for voting to give us choice.