The reason for this petition: The Canal Winchester Board of Education was saddled with the burden of how to regulate masks in our public schools for our children. Even though- from the national level of government to our local level- no one has yet to solve this deep, divisive issue, it was handed to our school board.  Instead of reviewing their responsibilities and finding themselves not equipped for handling such a hot-button, MEDICAL situation, our Board of Education members stepped up to the plate to show the district that they could handle tough decision-making. Even though, as stated before, they had NO EXPERIENCE in the matter, they went ahead and chose a side. Pushed and pulled by their own opinions and people-pleasing, they put our children in an unstable, inconsistent, and inflexible environment for the entirety of the year. A school year where the hours, policies, transportation, staffing, education platforms, and authority are in constant disarray.

Solution: And that's why The Canal Winchester Board of Education should declare MASK-WEARING AS A NON-SCHOOL ISSUE and remain neutral OR MAKE ONE FINAL ADDENDUM to the student handbook stating cloth, surgical, and N-95 MASKS ARE OPTIONAL.

Reasoning: No longer considered the authority or scapegoat of this matter, The Board of Education will have more time to address responsibilities that ARE in their jurisdiction such as TRANSPORTATION, HOURS, and STAFFING PROBLEMS. If we continue on this route of debate on who is right and who is wrong about masking using today’s science and  changing our lives radically for tomorrow’s science, the community we all love will continue to split and disconnect. One wrong decision and we might face an EXODUS OF FAMILIES from the district based on their beliefs and research; a piece of our culture lost. That is WRONG AND INTOLERANT. Not only does that type of discrimination go against our philosophy to “empower ALL students for success,” but it pushes good citizens to leave and takes money out of our district away from our children’s education. I have four kids that I want to raise alongside  other families in Canal Winchester no matter what their masking preference is, because this community shares a common mission: WE WANT THE BEST FOR OUR CHILDREN.

The 0%-COVID-case mentality is gone, so we cannot keep running our school on a metric system that is trying to achieve the impossible. According to the CDC statistics, 99.99% of children survive COVID. That is WITH OR WITHOUT MASKING POLICIES. It is up to us, the parents, who know them best, who talk to their doctors, who do their own research, who love their children more than the Board of Education does- and more than anybody else on this planet- to guide their family to make EDUCATED DECISIONS. There are more than 3900 students with individual lives and beliefs in this district, and The Board of Education does not know them all. To look to them for a solution STILL TO THIS DAY on masking during this crisis is not only UNFAIR ON THEM, it’s unprincipled, but it also PUSHES AWAY OUR RIGHT to make a difficult choice for our children and abdicates that responsibility onto group of elected members that never should have been the decision makers for our children’s medical wellbeing.

Why I care: My husband and I have four children (9, 6, 4, 2 years old) that I want to raise in Canal Winchester School District. I love this district especially the teachers, but if I could make one improvement, it would be consistent school policy. The emails from The Board of Education for "errors" and last-minute changes have caused me more distrust in the district's decision-making. I am tired of feeling powerless and having almost 2-years of conversations with my children that start with, "I'm sorry, but I just got an email..."  I truly believe that if our school board removes themselves from this particular issue, they can focus on areas of their expertise that are in their jurisdiction that are not going well such as transportation, permanent school hours, staffing, etc.. They have so much power to change our children's educational experiences that I think it has become distracting, and it's time to refocus them back on their jobs as members of The Canal Winchester Board of Education.