Dear Bishop McElroy and fellow Catholic School Leaders,

We appreciate all of the hard work and challenges that went into keeping our schools open during the COVID 19 pandemic. We know you made every effort to put our children's education and health first and as parents and members of our catholic school community we all could not be more grateful. We now ask you once more to take a stance for our San Diego Catholic schools and put our children's health first. We ask that you remove the forced masking of our children in schools. We ask that policy is made by following the science and data which clearly states masking of children provides minimal benefit at prevention of COVID19 but actually does lead to far more severe damage in other health risks including, depression, anxiety, and emotional devlopment. It is especially important to note transmission of the virus amongst kids is so minimal and therefore does nothing justify forced masking. The ability to see, appreciate and communicate through facial expressions is crucial to a child’s social development.

With the drop in COVID19 cases and hospitalizations plummetting we are grateful for the return to normalcy across San Diego and we ask the same be true for our children. Please don't continue to force them to wear masks without any valid solid science or data proving the benefits. Our children deserve better and we ask that you join many other states, counties and leaders across the country that are making decisions that allow families and most importantly the children thrive by letting them return to normal and show their beautiful little faces, mask free.