Pre-K Masking

[Kyle Gardner]

Good evening,

My family and I are residents of White Rock. We have 3 children who attend Chamisa, 2 of them in Pre-K.

I wish to convey in no uncertain terms my disappointment in the decision to retain the mask mandate for Pre-K. It is immoral in the extreme to continue to make our children bear the burden of protecting the community at large. As was mentioned in the public comments portion of the board meeting, the COVID mortality rate among our youngest students nationwide is vanishingly small. They are not in danger, vaccinated or not.

Furthermore, it is nonsensical to base the decision to keep masking for Pre-K on the fact that they are not old enough to receive the vaccine. As Omicron demonstrated, and as the CDC has admitted, the vaccines do not stop the spread of the virus. So, a Pre-K student receiving a vaccine would do nothing to protect his or her fellow students from a virus which, I reiterate, is not a danger to them. Masking should be optional for Pre-K for all the same reasons that it has been made optional for everyone else.

I would also draw attention to what the young lady (I believe she said she is a senior) said at the end of public comment about the tremendous price she has paid by mask wearing. Everything she said holds true, and doubly so, for our youngest who have not developed the ability to speak for themselves as that brave young woman did. They need the adults in their lives to speak for them, which I gladly do.

Put the decision on masking in the hands of the parents.

Kyle Gardner