Dear Haywood County School Board Members:

In light of the high rates of community transmission and the current guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control, we call on the Haywood County School Board to reinstitute a mask mandate for all students, teachers, staff, and visitors. 

Last year you asked us to return to a classroom of unknowns. You asked that we wear masks and that we teach our students how to mask properly. It wasn’t easy, but we did it with love in our hearts and a commitment to keeping our students safe. And we did it. We made last year safe for our students and communities, even as COVID-19 was raging all around us this past winter. Teachers did that.

Nimbly, we swiftly adapted to ever-changing public safety needs.  At the beginning of the pandemic, we went home one day expecting to come back right away only to have to quickly transition to teaching online. Then, when it was decided that it was safe to return to in-person learning as long as everyone wore masks, we joyfully welcomed students back to our classrooms, despite the stress and fear of disease. We trusted that you were listening to experts with our health in mind.

The Center for Disease Control, the State Health Department, the American Academy of Pediatrics and our own health officials say that masks should remain mandatory in schools. But to please the loudest and most obstinate groups, you are going against their advice. You have not surveyed the teachers or the parents as you did last year to see what the majority prefers. This will result in rising case counts, ICU tipping points, and pediatric deaths.

The Delta variant is moving quickly through our community, our hospitalizations are rising and cases are climbing.  As of August 6, the county had 158 cases in the previous seven days and the county is now seeing around 30 new cases per day. Of the 158 cases, 17 involved people under the age of 18 and 20 involved vaccinated individuals. There have been several outbreaks, even one at the Canton Police Department. And, Haywood Regional and Mission Hospitals are concerned about the healthcare system being stretched to the point that it impacts the standard of care for everyone.

In other districts of North Carolina, as well as school districts in Georgia and Arkansas, hundreds of students are being quarantined. This will happen here, and it will disrupt the learning of our students and it will impact parents who need to go to work to pay their bills.  If we make masks mandatory now, we can avoid that.

At the beginning of the 2020 school year, Superintendent Nolte said that, “Our “act short-term” approach helped us make steady, safe progress while reducing confusion as conditions, state orders and regulations changed.” We are imploring you to again take that short-term approach and reverse your decision and make masks mandatory just as the Haywood County Board of Commissioners have done in other county facilities.

Please, for the health and safety of our students, our own families, and our community, reverse course now before children return to school. Make masks mandatory in Haywood County schools.

Signed,

Teachers of Haywood County