This is a petition to strongly discourage the Monticello School District from implementing the required wearing of masks by students, teachers, and administrators.

Wearing masks at school should be a personal choice. If a parent would like their child to wear a mask, that is their choice. There are no legal grounds for a parent to require that the entire school or student population be required to wear a mask. A school has no right to require a medical intervention such as a mask. 

There are countless documented physical, mental, and emotional harms associated with wearing masks.

There are also instructional impediments to learning: face masks are threatening, menacing, and divisive; they impede normal social interaction; language is garbled; a barrier between student and teacher is created.