A couple of parents backed by a cadre of about four dozen online supporters made an impassioned plea to the South East Cornerstone Public School Division’s board members to eliminate the current mask mandate.
The mandate was initiated when it was decided it was reasonably safe to send students back to classrooms this past academic year as long as a number of health and safety protocols were being adhered to for their protection.
In fact, the first of two presenters to the board on May 19, Jenn Deglau, referred to the medical styled masking as “inhumane,” while reciting from a series of articles that stipulated there was little evidence of the mask routines actually working and that “kids as super spreaders of the virus, is a myth.”
Masks, she insisted, are generally ineffective since COVID virus particles are so small they can easily transfer through a typical mask.
Deglau questioned why it was logical to allow children to take the masks off to eat or engage in some settings, but they had to be worn in the classrooms. She asked if the school division had communicated with public health officials and also asked how children could be expected to learn as they develop fuzziness and dizziness through the course of the school day.
“My son’s mask is wet at the end of the day. It’s a horrible mask mandate and who will say enough is enough?”
Deglau said there are extreme sides being taken in the masking mandate but felt “the truth is found in the middle,” and she doesn’t want to see children undergoing unnecessary anxiety, depression or eating disorders.
“How many kids are suffering in silence?” she asked.
With summer weather now upon them, she said she feared such things as heat exhaustion and the fear mongering had to stop.
“Parents have had enough,” she said.
She referred to the mechanics of the body that requires cooling down properly after exercising in heat and questioned the validity of wearing masks in an outdoor situation.
“At some point we have to use common sense. Masks come off when siblings play together for an example. Masks were never a viable solution but rather a social manipulation and I do not consent to my children wearing masks and we need data from the school division and public health,” she said, regarding mask mandates.
Emily Gillies was the second presenter on the same topic and said she agreed with Deglau’s appeal and added there were certain pressures being applied when it came to the mandate.
She said hand sanitizers are not included in the public health orders and are viewed as a mere deterrent to healthy use for children. She said it could be considered child abuse since children return from school with raw and blistered hands.
She also noted that communication from schools and teachers should not be expressions of their personal opinions but rather neutral statements since personal statements come with great influence when it comes to teachers.
There is a subconscious bias to be aware of, she said. Staff members needed to remain neutral and parents receive enough information through the media. She added that teachers needed to rescind any statements they made regarding personal opinions on the masking mandate.
The policy in general, brought forth by administration and staff to enact the current policy is in contravention of international statutes, Gillies said, including United Nations bioethics rulings and the International Health Organization along with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
She said the school division held a lot of power and said she understood some employees of the division may be in agreement with the group she was representing, but they feared to speak up fearing job security.
“I have heard the response that ‘I have to do this to keep my job,’” she said.
“Maybe put your need of a salary on hold and check in as a parent or a person,” she added. “You have university training on children’s health and safety so ask yourself, should you personally be upholding or enforcing policies you believe are wrong?”
Gillies concluded by saying “parents want an end to this mandate. I hope you hear our voice to make change in the school division.”
In response, chairwoman Audrey Trombley stated the board would call an in-camera session to deliberate the request and added that the entire issue of masks in schools has taken Cornerstone “into unchartered waters,” and there was a desire by all to “come out on the other side of the pandemic safely.”
All parties were wishing for and expecting to a return to normalcy in the not too distant future, she said.
Following the presentation, the board issued a statement that a response to the parent delegation would be forthcoming within the next couple of weeks.
