On October 26th, 2020, Chamberlain School Board passed motion #20-070 to mandate mask-wearing in grades 2-12 when social distancing is not possible and in the hall from class to class, and for Kindergarten-1st grade when feasible. 

     This petition is brought forward with the intentions of eliminating the mask-mandate that was enforced upon our children without parental consent and instead, require that the decision to wear a mask while in school be made by the child/children's parents. 

    We simply do not have enough scientific-based research supporting the mandate of masks in our public schools.

     The school states that they are following CDC guidelines on the usage and importance of mask-wearing. However, the CDC is not the only health organization that makes scientific evidence based research available to the public. They are actually one of the only ones that state masks help at all. I am going to post a few studies in this petition. For those of you who do not care to read all of the data, please scroll down in each study to the 'Discussion' section, which will summarize the study for you.

Recently there was an article published by the ACP Annals of Internal Medicine that did a rather large study with 4862 participants (more people than our entire elementary, middle and high school combined) that had half the participants wear masks and half be mask-free. Infection with SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) occurred in 42 participants recommended masks (1.8%) and 53 control participants (non mask-wearing) (2.1%). The difference was 0.3%. Which means that there is no scientific evidence that masks help to reduce the contractibility of Covid-19. You can check out the study here: https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M20-6817 

If that's not a large enough study for you to come to the conclusion about the mandating of masks, check out the 'discussion' section of this study of almost 10 Million people after the Wuhan, China lockdown: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-19802-w This one is amazing, actually. Along with highly empirical data that states asymptomatic people don't spread the virus, this study also states that half of the asymptomatic positive cases involved were more than likely false positives. And out of those asymptomatic people, 100% of the close contacts tested were also negative. Read that again. 

     I can go on and on with studies. Studies that are NOT linked to Google, Facebook or Twitter (which are monitored by one-sided, fear-mongering, highly paid individuals that will only show you studies based off their paycheck). Studies aside, I am truly worried for the future of our children. When you put a covering over the airway of a person, it stimulates our sympathetic nervous system. This is otherwise known as our 'fight or flight' response. That response that makes you feel like you are panicking, needing to run away or hide. Do you think that your child is able to sit and learn and actually digest information in that state of mind? I highly doubt it. Not to mention the psychological effects that masking does to our self-identity. We are already living in a world that shows perfectionism in every picture, commercial and movie. Masking a child does not show their smile, thus telling them subconsciously that their smile and identity doesn't matter. Depression is already on the rise and I don't know about you, but I'd hate to lose a child to suicide someday wondering if I could have done anything more to prevent it. 

     Cloth masks were meant to be worn by medical and emergency personnel only for the prevention of liquids/foreign materials from projecting directly into their mouths during a situation (ie. blood, urine, vomit, feces.). They are not intended for the reduction in the contagion of a virus. Also, prolonged use of masks have shown that the fibers that are in these masks are being breathed directly into our upper respiratory system, thus causing irritation and inflammation. 

     Last but not least, when you are exposed to an upper-respiratory virus such as Covid-19, influenza, RSV or even the common cold, it is important to have plenty of Oxygen in your bloodstream to help create antibodies, fight off viruses and send messages from cell to cell in order to have an appropriate immune response and the best outcome for a successful recovery. Does putting a mask on someone help with that? Absolutely not. 

     I am simply suggesting that Chamberlain School District remove the mask-mandates and allow each parent make that decision for their own child/children. Just like our doctors chose that profession knowing that they were going to be exposed to viruses on a daily basis, so did our school staff. And you know what? They have some of the best immune systems you can have out there for it. 

     If we do not fight for parental rights in our 'public' schools, this can most definitely lead to more rights lost down the road. Take your child's health decisions back into your own hands by signing this petition, please.