This petition has been started to implore our leadership to lift the mask mandate for our children. We are requesting the mask mandate be lifted for all Brushton-Moira Central K-12 schools for the 2021-2022 school year. Masks should be optional! Not only does the evidence overwhelmingly show that students are at low risk for Covid 19, but new evidence is showing the danger of masks on children both physically and psychologically.

After one full year of this pandemic we have learned that children are NOT the main spreaders of COVID. They do not transmit it and they do not get sick from it. Schools in other states have dropped mask mandates without any issues. Schools in other countries NEVER had mask mandates and there were no significant rise in cases among children or staff.

Children are being physically and emotionally harmed due to these mask mandates. Physically, masks are extremely unhygienic. Kids are constantly touching their faces to adjust their masks, which is actually causing MORE germs to be spread! In addition, kids are developing headaches, fatigue, dizziness, nausea, etc. due to the restricted oxygen flow while wearing masks all day. It is extremely difficult for most adults to wear them for just a few minutes to go into a store, yet we expect our kids to wear them for 7+ hours per day. This is unconscionable! Furthermore, emotionally, it is causing significant trauma. Childhood is a crucial time to develop friendships by socializing and interacting with their peers. When wearing a mask, they lose the ability to see facial expressions which plays a critical role in socialization. Kids need to see smiles again.

By mandating masks, we are also teaching children to be fearful of each other. This will undoubtedly cause long-term negative psychological impacts. Research shows childhood depression and suicide have risen dramatically this past year due to lack of socialization. Masks are causing much more harm in our kids than benefits!

Forcing children to wear masks is nothing short of physical and emotional CHILD ABUSE! Parents should be the only ones to decide what is best for their kids, not the government or school officials!

With all of this "science" and vaccines available, it makes no sense to keep masking our children. Please join me in unmasking our children and making masks optional. This should be a parent's choice. Parents, adoptive parents, and legal guardians have primary responsibility for the health and welfare of their children. Governments and school districts may not usurp this natural right. Requiring that students wear masks is a violation of civil liberties.

We urge leaders to read the evidence presented below and lift the mandatory mask mandate.

1. The WHO states that the "Potential impact of wearing a mask on learning and psychosocial development, in consultation with teachers, parents/caregivers and/or medical providers" should be considered. Yet neither parents nor teachers are being consulted on this.

1a. The mask guidance that WHO states is necessary to prevent increased infection can not be followed by children

1b. The WHO lists four advantages to using masks, but three of them are about making people feel as if they're doing something, not that they actually do anything

1c. Wearing masks incorrectly is dangerous

1d. Dangers of mask wearing including long term dangers

2. Masks do not prevent Covid

2a. Asymptomatic people do not spread Covid

3. Study finds that medical masks make little to no difference and cloth masks probably increase illness

4. Full time mask wearing causes issues such as acne, mask mouth, and yeast infections in the mouth.

4a. Dentists say incidence of mask mouth is seen in half of their patients and can lead to serious complications including strokes

4b. Thousands of harmful bacteria found on masks

4c. Mask mouth and the harms

5. Children are not at high risk for Covid

6. Study finds mental and physical problems for kids wearing masks

7. Masking children is dangerous

8. Children are suffering more mentally than physically from Covid

9. Dangers of long term use

10. A list of more dangers with links

11. Additional Mask Studies

12. In addition, a group of Florida parents found masks contained huge amounts of bacteria making kids sick.

13. Masks were encouraged to prevent asymptomatic spread but studies find asymptomatic spread is rare

14. UK does not mandate masks in children and their death rate for kids is 2 in one million

It is clear that children are at little risk from Covid and at more risk from wearing masks. In addition, a look at schools showed that transmission rates are higher in schools that require masks.

With all this information, we should be considering that masks are affecting children and should be a choice left up to the parents.