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For over a year now, Rockwood parents have been fighting for their children's right to breath freely at school. They have created parent organizations, attended dozens of school board meetings, and sent countless emails to school board members filled with academic research and first-hand accounts that prove that masks do nothing but harm students' academic, physical, and psychological wellbeing. It became painfully clear that no amount of evidence and logic could sway this corrupt board who has sold the right to breath to the highest bidder--the federal government--but that's a story for another day.
On December 10, after Attorney General Eric Schmitt finally sent a cease and desist letter to Superintendent Timothy Ricker to end mandatory masking, parents and students were emboldened to stand up for themselves and protest. Parents and students from throughout the district gathered in the parking lot of the administration building and demanded compliance with the law.
But the truth is, this was yet another effort that seemed to make little difference to the administrators who peeked timidly at the protestors from behind lowered blinds and a line of police. The real powerhouse of the day was the student activists inside the schools.
For days brave students had been peacefully protesting in the schools by removing their masks. These students were segregated in libraries and conference rooms, but their impact was felt. Each day, their bravery motivated more students to join them, and the schools started to run out of segregation space. By December 10, the libraries and conference rooms were full, and students were being removed from the buildings.
According to an insider, principals were done. As Ricker hid from the crowd outside, he sat red-faced on a conference call with administrators and principals. He was adamant that nothing would change. Masks would stay. But the principals finally stood up to him and said they couldn't manage the students any longer. Ricker had lost his enforcers. And it was all thanks to students who would not comply.
The following week, the school board voted for a mask-optional plan to being on January 18, and everyone cheered. Most students put their masks back on, clinging to the hope that the district would follow through on its promise.
Of course, it didn't.
Today is the day that the mask-optional plan was supposed to go into effect, and yet here we are again, with no options and muzzled children. On January 11, the school board held a closed meeting and voted to keep masks. They blamed the rise in Omicron cases. I blame them. And so should the students.
There are plenty of resources that describe how Covid doesn't negatively impact healthy children and how masks don't work and cause harm and how transmission rates are lower in districts and counties without mask mandates. I won't rehash all of that here.
My message is for the students.
We need you. You need you.
After a year of effort from parents, the district only budged thanks to your efforts. Don't give in. Don't believe the false promise that it's just a few weeks more. (Did you know that the district recently spent over $160,000 on N95 masks? That provides a mask to every employee everyday through March. March!) Abusers always make false promises and move the goal posts again and again. And these people, dear students, ARE your abusers. They have no respect for your bodily sovereignty or your biological needs.
Take off your masks again. Fill those conference rooms. Let other students borrow your bravery. Save yourselves. We the parents support you.
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