The worldwide "COVID-19" pandemic has clearly changed our lives. Fear and guilt have created a rift in our society that isolates us from each other, hindering the ability to grow for all ages. As we all know, the children truly are the future. Our standards and mandates should reflect as such.

    Every student learns differently. In Imperial County, as well as many other communities, many students have the challenge of learning two languages in order to participate in the public school system; there are students with learning disabilities and those without, there are visual learners, auditory learners, the list continues endlessly, because we are individuals. Not just everybody is different, every body is different. 

    Mandating children and teachers to wear a mask absolutely inhibits the ability for communication; students are unable to correctly learn the proper forms and shapes the mouth makes in order to annunciate letters, words, and sounds correctly. Not being able to communicate with your peers and the world around you, we as adults know from experience, leads to the inability to: socialize, make decisions, and stand up for ourselves and those we love. The long term health, mental and physical, side effects of wearing a mask are far greater than what is being discussed.

    Children are in the midst of learning to regulate their mind and body. It is in any parents best interest to listen to their child when they say the mask prevents them from breathing well, makes them feel nauseous, or light headed. In our town, it is commonly over 95 degrees for the first three months of school attendance, many days reach over 100 degrees, causing a stress on the body to down regulate its' internal temperature by all means necessary. In areas of lower temperatures, the same intuitive response is communicated between the body and mind.

   A prominent form of regulating the body and mind is through breathing.

  Masks do not allow the body to function as it was created to be capable of doing.

  We respect the decision of those who will continue to wear masks. We respect the regulations suggested to protect us. 

  We ask the community to trust and support each other, as we have done thus far, to hear and understand our requests as parents, teachers, and community members that are speaking for those who cannot. 

  We ask the community to support and make a change for our children.

School Districts and School Boards of Imperial County:

  We ask that the fear that has been instilled from State Government regarding the possible defunding of our schools, to not thwart what We the People know to be just.

  We ask that you have faith your community will be by your side in making this decision:

  We ask for the mandate of masks for grades K-12 and warning students who refuse, will be sent home, to be lifted.

  We ask for the district to listen to the parents that trust them with our children, to support our decision and our request.

Thank You Imperial Valley.