We appeal to Dr. Croner, School Board Members: Christina Eshelman, Terry Graber, Curt Flickinger, Lou Bonacorsi, Todd Gongwer, Shawn Johnson and Don Lehman, Principals: Randy Cripe, David Maugel, Jay Olson, John Payne, Kim Branham, Steve Bowser and Weston Lambert to stop causing undue harm to WaNee students for the uncertain benefit to adults. We plea with these decision makers to be humane, to be nonpartisan, and to make WaNee students' rights a priority.

This petition was created in support of WaNee students who continue to be negatively affected by wearing masks 6-8 hours a day, 3-5 days a week, depending on their in-class enrollment. Most students attending 5 days a week are under the age of 12.

Governor Eric Holcomb lifted the State of Indiana's mask mandate on April 6, 2021, with the exception of government buildings, COVID-19 testing sites, and K-12 schools.

When weighing the effectiveness of face masks, it would be careless to not take into consideration that the majority of students do not effectively wear face masks and there are enough inconsistencies with day-to-day in-school rules that even a kindergartner can notice the hypocrisy of this mandate. There is no evidence that a cloth face mask stops the transmission of COVID-19 in schools. Also, the fact that students are wearing these masks multiple days without being washed, dropped on the floor, laid upon dirty countertops, and touched over and over throughout the day meaning these masks are carrying large amounts of harmful bacteria and possibly other viruses.

Not only is this mandate ineffective, it is unethical and abusive to WaNee students, who are experiencing high levels of fear, anxiety, depression and fatigue from restrictive breathing. It doesn't take a psychologist to witness the negative emotional effect this has on them. You just need to be an observant human being.

Outside of school and government buildings, students and adults can now mostly freely walk around without masks. Most students have been congregating and playing together without masks when not in school prior to the April 6th mask mandate lift since the beginning of the restrictions - because most parents have witnessed the negative effects of isolating us and the ineffectiveness of the masks.

This continued mask mandate in the WaNee school system is nothing more than a facade to appease those who believe students are responsible for COVID-19 transmission or perhaps a partisan play. Either way - it is CLEARLY not about WaNee students. The vaccines are available for adults and teachers. People can still wear masks and avoid students if they remain in fear. It is time to start making our students' rights a priority.

Lastly, in our schools we are taught about our freedoms and liberties in History classes and yet when it comes to these masks, these very freedoms and liberties that our Founding Fathers fought to protect no longer apply. We are standing up and saying, “We want our freedom back.”

Please sign this petition in support of WaNee lifting the nonsensical mask mandate.