Petition asks School Board to follow public health guidance, end K-12 masking exemptions
The petition below was created by me to communicate to our public servants public opinion in favor of following the Virginia Department of Health Guidelines and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommended Covid-19 mitigation practices to hasten the end of the pandemic in our community. The undersigned includes school families, community members, and stakeholders in Rappahannock County Public Schools. When I submitted this letter to the Rappahannock News on Sept.14 the petition had 226 signatures; as of Monday it had 300. To sign, visit Change.org/ RappSchools.
To the Rappahannock County School Board:
We want RCPS students to be in school, safe, and focused on their classes and activities. The best way we can achieve this during the escalating Covid-19 Pandemic is by faithfully following public health recommendations and mandates, including universal masking, without exemptions. We have now lived through multiple school based outbreaks while very few were masked at school. We want to do all we can to curtail hardship, missed school, and serious illness or death from the pandemic in our community.
Therefore, we request that the current local Covid-19 model be discarded in favor of a simple statement that Rappahannock County Public Schools will adhere to the mask mandate along with the full complement of mitigation strategies without exceptions until such time as the mandate is lifted. Let public health officials, not politicians, guide our pandemic response and mitigation strategies.
We would like a school schedule modified to allow for outdoor, safe mask breaks for each student each day, and hope the schools will creatively employ other methods so interactions can be both safe and distanced and personal and friendly. Respectfully,
[Signed by hundreds]
The petition also included an option to add a comment. Below are some of the comments I received:
Kathryn Goldfarb, Washington: “I’m signing this petition because I believe we have to keep our students and teachers — and community — safe!”
Catherine Zimmerman, Huntly: “Science matters.”
Jeanne Wall, Boston: “It makes sense.”
Sara Adams, Washington: "I own property in Rappahannock and I am spending most of my time there. Our schools should be safe and open."
Christina Oehser, Washington: “People do not have the right to impose their opinions (rights as they call them) over the public good. This virus is devastating our country and the prosperity of Rappahannock County. The long term effects on a child’s or adult’s health if stricken with covid-19 can be devastating as well. We need to be following the world-renowned experts at the CDC not the self-centered opinions of people who are not experts and care only about their own ‘freedom.’ If you don’t wear a mask then don’t come to school. Our children and teachers deserve the freedom to pursue the happiness of a safe-as-we-can-makeit school experience.”
Heather Farmer, Amissville: “Masking helps keep our kids and staff safe IN school and not in mass quarantines. While there is a health order and quarantine requirements based on masking we are required to follow, mitigation measures along with masking ensures less kids and staff are missing multiple days of school.”
Elizabeth Seeley, Culpeper: “I’m signing because I am concerned for the health and safety of our students and staff. As a district employee, I know how quickly viruses spread in classrooms. The Delta variant is highly contagious. We must continue to use proven strategies, including universal masking, to slow transmission and protect our school community.”
Barbara Adolfi, Sperryville: “I’m signing because it should be a priority that we follow science and provide the safest environment for our children.”
Shannon Ennis, Washington: “I’m signing because my son and daughter have missed 11 of the 22 days of school. They need to be safe and in school learning.”
Monica Worth, Sperryville: “I’m signing because I have served on Boards and believe it is a responsibility of Board members to receive, follow, and provide to those they serve the best information possible to guide decisions. In this case, I believe respecting the value of education extends to the education, experience, and expertise of medical and public health officials. We protect children in our community from uncertain vulnerabilities all the time. It’s what adults in a caring community do. I thank the Board for its service in doing so.”
Louise Goddard, Washington: “My grandchildren are going to Rappahannock Elementary, and I firmly believe in masks even after the vaccination is approved. I am vaccinated and still wear a mask in solidarity with them. They feel safer with masks on. Children take their cues from the adults around them and they have been taught to trust science."