I will be speaking tomorrow in defense of our current mask policy that allows everyone to choose, at our local school board meeting tomorrow.
This is the content of my remarks. I only have 4 minutes to speak. Please give some feedback if you don't mind.
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My name is Chuck and I have 5 children currently enrolled in this district.
I want to start off by saying, I am concerned. As a parent with 5 children currently enrolled, I am concerned that the irrational fears of some will overshadow the ability of parents to make choices about their child’s health and happiness. Parents should be able to make that choice for their own children based on their own reasoning and critical thinking. After all, isn’t science all about critical reasoning? And we are told over and over, “follow the science”.
In science, “beliefs” matter less than facts and data. The development of beliefs based on critical reasoning and quality data is a science-based approach, and that is important to apply in this instance.
There are legitimate questions being raised by medical doctors all over the world. German Neurologist and Neurophysiologist, Dr. Margarite Brisson MD worries about an eventual rise in dementia years down the road because of oxygen deprivation from wearing masks today. We don’t know if this is ridiculous or rational, we do know there is nothing close to a consensus.
I am not interested in forcing anyone to wear a mask that doesn’t want to wear one. Just as I am not interested in trying to force anyone to remove their masks. I urge you to please consider the science before you attempt to force my 5children to wear a face mask.
While the experts may not agree on whether forcing a child to wear a face mask all day is worth it, almost all studies acknowledged the following.
· Increased feelings of isolation
· They are damaging to language development
· They hamper speech and communication
· They are unsanitary – Providing a warm, moist environment for bacteria to grow
· They cause more Co2 and less oxygen to enter the body
· They aren’t good for emotional development, especially in younger children because they need to see faces to help develop their own speech, emotions, and so on.
· Not to mention the wide range of effects masks have on special needs children
According to Global Mental Health program at Columbia University published a report siting Dr. Kang Lee, a University of Toronto psychologist;
…”it is not until kids are about 14 years old that they reach adult skill levels in recognizing faces. Before then, kids tend to see individual facial features, rather than recognizing the person as a whole. By putting on masks, we take away information that makes it especially difficult for children to recognize others and read emotional signals, which is unsettling and disconcerting. These issues may be especially true for children with autism spectrum disorder, including Asperger’s syndrome, who tend to have particular difficulties reading non-verbal cues.
In the process of researching the subject it came to my attention that there are doctors on both sides of this issue, and there are scientists on both sides of this issue, which tells me that no one really knows. I found that every study I looked at said they needed more research on the long-term effects of wearing masks for extended periods of time on children. That seems reasonable to me.
In the meantime, please continue to allow me to make decisions concerning MY child’s medical and emotional health. I prefer to have that ability graciously left in my hands where it should be, rather than ripped away from me and put into someone else’s hands due too irrational fears of a third party.
I take MY children’s mental and emotional health more seriously than anyone else. So when I make choices concerning them, I do it out of an unrelenting love for them. I want the very best for them, just as any parent does, no matter what side of this issue you fall on. Everyone here wants the best for our kids or we wouldn’t be here tonight.
The bottom line here is the school board should continue doing the right thing, by allowing parents to choose. This leaves the power in the parent’s hands and doesn’t trample anyone’s Liberty.
I know I will not be forcing my children to wear masks, and if the school votes to mandate them, we will seek alternative and less damaging methods of educating our children.