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SIGN OUR LETTER: AN OPEN LETTER TO THE ZCS ADMINISTRATION AND BOT

Make masking optional for parents and students of Zionsville Community Schools (ZCS).

***Contribution Request*** Please note: Funds DO NOT go to support Unmask Our Kids Zionsville. They go to iPetions ***

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As Zionsville Community Schools (ZCS) parents and guardians, relatives, and other concerned citizens who are committed to the holistic health and well-being of our community and our children who attend ZCS schools, we are grateful for your leadership in offering in-person learning since the beginning of the school year, staying the course during the fall’s seasonal virus surge, and continuing to increase the number of school group activities and events.

We now invite you to bravely build on that leadership tradition by unmasking our children — especially in light of Indiana's Governor, Eric Holcomb’s recent signing of the executive order that ends he indoor mask requirement for students and K-12 school workers on June 30 and his earlier decision to end the statewide mandate in early April— because we know the following to be true:

• Children are not drivers of COVID transmission. Thus, regardless of mask policy, we would expect to see limited transmission in schools and from children to adults. See evidence.
• COVID is less dangerous to children than seasonal flu, not to mention other everyday risks we accept as a normal part of a child’s life. See evidence.
• Masks are, at best, credibly disputed as a virus mitigation measure by decades of quality research, as well as observed results of mask mandates around the world, and, at worst, possibly dangerous. See evidence.

Without overwhelming evidence – not lab studies that suggest “mechanistic plausibility” while real-life results around the world prove otherwise, but real-world evidence – that masking children leads to long-term, positive, holistic health outcomes for a range of health issues and doesn’t actually harm our children, we must abandon this misguided attempt to singularly control a flu-like virus through experimental interventions and suspension of individual liberties.

Children have suffered enough. They have paid a steep price for our fear, bearing a burden that was not only unwarranted, but also, as locations around the world have shown us, completely unnecessary. It is our job to protect our children, not the other way around.

Given these truths, we know it is safe to end mandatory masking for our children. Additionally, according to minutes from your June 14, 2021 BOT meeting, there is a percentage of staff and families that support removing the mask mandate and start the 2021-2022 school year without masks. As such, we prefer that the unmasking happen immediately through a simple announcement that masks are now optional. ­

However, we recognize that outsized fear of COVID has become entrenched thanks to ceaseless, one-sided messaging and censorship by politicians, health officials, media, big tech, and big pharma. As a result, there will be some who fear unmasking. Therefore, we propose a 9-point plan for ZCS schools to unmask our children, sooner rather than later. This plan allows people to opt-in or out in phases, depending on their real or perceived risk, so they can ease back into an unmasked school environment with increasing confidence.

Click to view the proposed plan

We appreciate that you are taking our proposal seriously. We are open to feedback and welcome a dialogue to help our district return to normal as quickly as possible.

We also recognize that you are under immense pressure, and that it is difficult to blaze a trail in controversial territory, particularly when so many are heavily invested in universal masking as a COVID mitigation strategy. That’s why we are also contacting our neighbors and other public officials to urge them to abandon the notion of mask mandates and any recommendations to universally mask.

If there is more, we can do to help you, please let us know. We aim to give you as much support as possible to boldly do the right thing for our children.

In closing, we want to reiterate what we said at the start of this letter: We are genuinely grateful for your leadership in offering in-person learning this entire school year, even as virus transmission surged when emotions and fear were peaking. That took guts! When some of us shared our experience with friends and family around the country, they were stunned that our schools didn’t miss a beat. We tell that story with pride and hope that our little town can show the world how safe in-person learning is. Now, the data from other courageous places around the world make us confident that it will be just as safe — and more enjoyable — with optional masks.

Let’s keep leading the way!