We are writing to urge you to do your part to make sure that mask-wearing is voluntary, not mandatory at The Bear Creek School (The following information does not reflect school opinions, this is from a group of concerned parents who want to make masks optional and not mandatory).

COVID guidelines are harming our children. Transmission of COVID-19 among children in schools is very rare. In fact, according to published data by the CDC, 99.99815% of children who contract COVID-19 survive. Despite this, the CDC issued COVID guidance calling for a host of extreme mitigation measures that are harmful to children and counterintuitive to learning. Since September of 2020 children at The Bear Creek School have been subjected to forced masking, being physically distanced from other students, small cohort recess with limited access to other classmates and playground, closed lunchrooms, daily temperature checks, and more. These measures are unnecessary given what we now know. As such, we’re asking Patrick Carruth and the Board of Trustees to follow the lead of other local schools and lift COVID-19 guidelines. It’s time to make mask wearing voluntary at The Bear Creek School.

The “we will just follow” philosophy is not working. In a time fraught with fear The Bear Creek School has been making decisions without basing those decisions on solid scientific data. Proclamations like, “We have to follow the CDC,” or “We have to follow the governor,” or “We must follow OSPI” have become commonplace. Providence Classical Christian and other private schools across the country have been mask optional for the 2020-2021 school year without any community spread or increased liability issues. The aforementioned schools have had mask optional learning (with parents signature), no physical distancing and had limited parental exclusion. The result? The school has had zero hospitalizations among students, teachers and staff.

Children are not at risk. As of April 22, 2021, children (aged 0-20 years) comprised 0.00%-0.19% of all COVID-19 deaths in the United States, while 10 states reported zero child deaths from the virus. Coronavirus does not affect children like a typical virus does; clearly, children account for an extremely low percentage of cases and have a 99.99.% recovery rate. 

Never before has it been so critical to stand up for the rights of our children! Mandatory, experimental interventions such as forced masking, forced social distancing, constant hand sanitization and keeping children in contained spaces have been shown to cause serious physical, emotional and socially developmental damage. This environment isn’t suitable for our children, and we don’t know what damage these measures will cause to them over the long term; they’ve never been studied. However, we do know that COVID measures have led to a severe uptick in depression, anxiety and other mental disturbances. In fact, the rate of suicide in the pediatric population is at an alarming, all-time high.

It’s time to stand together and fight for our children. When it comes to our kids, parents are always best suited to make decisions for our children — and it’s the school’s job to support those decisions. The Bear Creek School made a significant investment into a new air filtration system and cleaning protocol which will continue to keep our students safe. Mandated interventions such as mask-wearing have no place at The Bear Creek school; parents want to maintain the right to make responsible decisions about what is best for themselves and their children based on their own unique circumstances. For parents that want to continue to mask; they may do so. But, it must be a family choice for 2021-2022 school year. I urge you to do the right thing, stand for choice and protect all individuals by encouraging — not mandating — the use of face masks in the Bear Creek community. Help us make masks optional at The Bear Creek School in all divisions.