Southern Lehigh School District Families, Current Southern Lehigh students, Friends, and Residents **Please sign and share***

To the attention of SLSD Board of Education -- Please allow masking of our children to be optional and up to the discretion of the parents/child/family.

As we wait for Southern Lehigh School District in PA to announce their decision following the latest mask announcement recently released by the CDC, we as parents can take a stand and make a plea to the district for masking to be optional for our kids!  In addition to signing this petition, please email school board & superintendent as well as attend the school board meeting on 8/23.  

Looking forward to 2021/2022 school year,  we are now under more pressure from the CDC to once again make students wear masks in classrooms after spending an entire summer of playing sports, attending camps & gatherings, etc where they have been unmasked and have been safe.   We, as parents, are now pleading with SLSD to stay the course and allow masking to be optional for our kids. 

Last year you allowed families and parents to make their OWN decision on whether to send their children to school or to be virtual.   This year we ask that you continue that trend and let families ALSO decide if their children will wear masks or not.  EACH family should be able to make their own decision based on what they are comfortable with.   It should be a personal decision for all.

Please understand - This isn't just a plea based on feelings.   This is also based on facts.   Simply stated - There is no scientific evidence to support this mask mandate upon our children.  As recently published in the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) children are not only at the lowest risk for developing COVID-19, but they also don’t play a significant role in the spread of SARS-CoV-2.  Additionally, please examine how isolation and separation, caused by wearing masks, may seriously reduce development of important skills and characteristics such as empathy, collaboration, self-esteem, mental health, and trust which are important to self confidence, growth, and the human experience, ESPECIALLY at the elementary and middle school levels. 

Part of the protection of wearing a mask, is wearing a N95 and wearing it properly.  Most of our children when wearing masks are wearing cloth masks/gaiters/bandanas and at most times not wearing correctly, washed frequently or changed multiple times through the day.  It is known once a mask become moist it is no longer effect in protection.  This can cause infections and fungi growing on masks in which children have over their face for 7-8 hours a day.  

According to the School Board Data provided on the last meeting:

In Lehigh County, 95.6% of ages 65+ have been fully vaccinated, 70.1% of ages 18 and older are fully vaccinated, and 67.1% of ages 12 and older are fully vaccinated.

There have been ZERO reported deaths for children under 15 years old, due to Covid, in PA. 

It should also be pointed out that these CDC guidelines are only RECOMMENDATIONS, and we would urge consideration of that VERY specific language: "recommendation" vs "Mandate".  

To be clear, this is their "recommendation" NOT their mandate,  which leaves it up to the individual districts to make the final decision on how to proceed.   We understand that things could change down the line... but for now, our children need normalcy. They need to see their new teacher’s and friend’s faces. They need to have normal school programs and perform with their parents and grandparents in the audience. They need to sit with their desks facing each other and see each others smiles and laughs and even sadness.  They need to sing and play with their friends at recess.  They need to be children again.

All we are asking is that masks become an OPTION and NOT a requirement.  Please stand up for them. Please fight for them. What we are asking them to endure is wrong and is a clear detriment to their physical and mental health, and we are responsible if we allow it to continue. I know there are hard decisions to be made and we implore you to, once again, do what is right for THEM.

We are the

Parents of Southern Lehigh School District

Sign this petition!