Mask Opt-Out Policy Letter to Principal

(If you are in a mask opt-out school, feel free to: copy, paste, tweak & send):

Generally we consider laws and rules on personal safety equipment to be a personal choice; seatbelts, life jackets, and helmets all protect the wearer who solely bears the risk by opting out. However, exceptions are made for OSHA work safety laws and dangers to children. Construction workers must wear safety harnesses while working on sloped roofs and children under 10 must wear life jackets in small watercraft. In schools we extend some safety equipment rules to protect children as needed; in chemistry and makerspace classes we require students to wear safety glasses/goggles when working with chemicals or potential small projectiles like nails or sparks.

People never are given the ability to “opt-out” of using safety equipment or laws when the risk is imposed on other people. You can’t opt-out of using your car’s headlights. You can’t opt-out of gun free zones. You can’t opt-out of school zone speed limits. You can’t opt-out of auto smog control devices. You can’t opt-out of FDA food safety laws in restaurants.

Anti-maskers attempt to construe the use of masks as a personal safety device, but this is oversimplified. In regards to contagious respiratory infections it has been scientifically proven that masks are most effective at preventing infected people from SPREADING contagions. Masks are only somewhat effective at protecting the wearer from INHALING contagions. It has been well established that we wear masks to protect others, not ourselves.

As educators we have a legal and moral obligation to prevent children from harming each other. A mask-optional policy during a pandemic is essentially the same thing as letting some children opt-out of not harming other children.

If masks had not been politicized by the misinformed, there is no question that schools everywhere would require them during a pandemic. The safety pay-off is massive. Anti-maskers tend to be very passionate and vocal, but this does not make their misinformed opinions correct. Neil deGrasse Tyson has a famous applicable quote, “The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it.” Please do not let the misinformed drive a school policy that puts ALL children at risk. Please follow the advice of the multitude of experts at the CDC as well as doctors and scientists worldwide and reinstate our mask policy.

Submitted August 20, 2021 at 10:50AM by hallbuzz https://ift.tt/3B0jdHE