During COVID-19 pandemic, many Maine families and students have struggled with changing school environments and regular pivots from in-person to virtual learning.  School staff, teachers and administrators have balanced evolving guidance to put the health, safety and education of students first.  There is no doubt that in-person learning is best for our kids but must be done in a safe manner with health and safety protocols that are evidenced-based.  Failure to have safety measures in place, especially universal masking and lunchtime distancing, will result in an even more chaotic learning environment during the 2021-2022 school year.

We applaud the Maine Department of Education for releasing a revised Standard Operating Procedure on August 12th based on the recommendations of the United State’s CDC.  However, absent a statewide emergency declaration, these recommendations, including universal masking, are left up to local school boards across the state. 

Unfortunately, as seen in the news lately, these meetings have become controversial political events dominated by the vocal minority of COVID-19 deniers and anti-mask and vaccine individuals.  As a result, thousands of Maine kids risk going back to school in environments lacking appropriate health and safety measures.  We strongly believe that this fact alone constitutes a public emergency and urge you to declare a State of Emergency and implement a statewide mask requirement for all students and staff of schools in Maine.

We make this request based on facts, including the following:

-The B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant of the COVID-19 virus has had severe consequences across the country, shutting down schools in states without masking requirements and putting tens of thousands of children and teachers in quarantine and lockdown. 

-The CDC recommends universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students, and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status.

-The 67,000 physicians who are members of the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend that students K - 12 wear masks at school, whether vaccinated or not. 

-Children under the age of 12 are not currently eligible for vaccination.  

Working parents are severely impacted by the need to find childcare for children doing virtual learning, disproportionately impacting working mothers and single parents, so the consequences of school closures and quarantines have a financial impact on our local economy and families.

We, the undersigned concerned parents, grandparents, students, educators and community members, urge you to consider the grave consequences to the health of our kids and community, and ask you to follow the advice of medical experts, not the vocal minority, and declare a State of Emergency to put in place the evidenced-based health and safety protocols outlined in the ME DOE SOP (8.12.21) as requirements, including mandatory masking for all students, teachers, staff, and visitors to Maine public schools. We need to protect ALL Maine students and communities which is not possible absent state leadership.