We ask the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation (EVSC) School Board to hold a public hearing and public vote on the mandatory covering of students’ faces. We are concerned that 18 months into COVID, these officials who serve the public appear incapable of critically analyzing the situation and making decisions that are in the best interest of students’ welfare.

We want to make their stances known to the public. They should not be able to hide behind anonymous committees and questionable “guidelines,” especially with them already having a health-related bylaw covering vaccination. If the board agrees that an uncovered face is public health threat, they should explicitly state that to the people who elected them.

COVID does not pose a serious risk to children and young adults, nor have those young people been proven to be vectors of community spread. Furthermore, countless randomized controlled trials and real-world evidence have shown that covering one’s nose and mouth has no effect against the spread of an airborne respiratory virus – and in fact, prolonged masking also poses a significant health risk to the wearers and damages their socioemotional learning.

With all this information readily available, the school board remains silent, ignoring the real-world evidence in favor of evidence-free guidelines put forth by incompetent health officials. We question whether these are the people who have students’ best interests in mind. Thus, we ask them to hold a public hearing and conduct a public vote at either their 9/7 or 9/20 meeting.