Defy governor on masking order

On Aug. 23, I observed the virtual meeting of the Milford Board of Education in action. Or should I say “inaction.”

What I saw was a lack of leadership, lack of courage, lack of responsibility and a virtual debacle. One after another, concerned citizens expressed their outrage about Gov. Ned Lamont’s executive order to mask our children in the fall semester. One even broke into tears because she knew her child was being abused by this decision. However, in her chairman’s report, Susan Glennon responded to these concerned citizens stating that the mask mandate is a “binding legal requirement” and that board members are agents of the state of Connecticut and have a “duty to implement the state’s interests.” She concluded saying, “Sometimes we just have to follow the law.”

Strong leadership is a choice, and our board has shown none for Milford citizens.

There is no statistically significant evidence that masks help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in children. A study of 90,000 elementary school students in 169 Georgia schools from Nov. 16 to Dec. 11, 2020, showed “that a masking requirement of students failed to show independent benefit.”

This is an executive order and not a law.

Any order that hurts children needs to be defied and changed. I remind them that they are elected by the citizens of Milford, not the state.

Is this a result of a lack of balanced partisanship on the board?

Children have near zero chance of severe disease (99.997 percent recovery) from COVID-19, but the downsides of wearing masks are not zero. The ability to read faces, learn emotional and communication cues is essential for young children and development of these skills is stunted by masks.

I call on the board to defy the governor’s irrational order. It is as simple as letting parents decide what is best for their children. Is the board interested in serving our children or serving the state?

We need new leadership.

Wally Hauck

Milford