Sitka School Board Right Side of History

Monday December 20, 2021

Dear Mr. Hauser and Sitka School Board,

My name is Brett Wilcox. My wife and I are 21-year residents of Sitka. All four of our children attended and graduated Sitka schools. On Friday, December 17, 2021, the Sitka Sentinel published a letter to the editor signed by Sitka School Board members Amy Morrison, Andrew Hames, Paul Rioux, Blossom Teal-Olsen, and Todd Gebler. In that letter, we read the following: “The Sitka School Board has always kept students as our number one priority. We will continue to strive to work together with families and community members in our service. The academic and mental health of our students has remained our primary focus throughout these unprecedented times.”

It is an established fact that academic and mental health of students today has decreased in the age of Covid mitigation strategies. (See Table 1 here.)

I am filing a complaint against Mr. Hauser and the Sitka School Board because mitigation measures including the masking of children at school harms students both academically and emotionally. (See Table 1 here, heading MASK HARMS.) Even if the body of evidence supported the efficacy of face masks worn by children for several hours a day, that would still not justify the academic, psychological, and physical harm caused by this mandated EUA intervention. But the body of evidence weighs against the efficacy of masks even when worn by professionals in clinical settings. (See Table 1 here, heading MASKS-INEFFECTIVENESS .)

Inasmuch as masking children is ineffective and masking children results in physical, academic, and emotional harm, the statements made by the Sitka School Board quoted above are false.

We also read the following from the letter to the editor: “While we are looking at transitioning to mask optional in January, this is subject to not being in the high alert level. While we are in high, we are legally required to follow City and Borough of Sitka Ordinance 2021-32 which requires the use of face coverings in indoor settings.”

This statement is also false.

Ordinance 2021-32 provides for several exceptions, some of which are applicable to school children as follows: “Any individual for whom wearing a face covering would be contrary to his or her health or safety because of a medical condition or mental health condition, and any individual unable to tolerate a face covering due to a physical or mental disability. . . . Individuals who are speech impaired, deaf, or hard of hearing, or individuals communicating with someone who is deaf or hard of hearing, where facial or mouth movements are an integral part of communication. . . . Any individual who has trouble breathing or is otherwise unable to remove the face covering without assistance. . . . Individuals performing an activity that cannot be conducted or safely conducted while wearing a face covering (for example, a driver experiencing foggy glasses, a dental patient receiving care, swimming, an equipment operator where there is a risk of dangerous entanglement).”

Furthermore, the ordinance reads, “If a person declines to wear a face covering because of a medical condition or disability as described above, this ordinance does not require them to produce medical documentation verifying the stated condition or disability.”

The ordinance also reads, “. . . violation of this ordinance does not create grounds for residents to harass individuals who do not comply with it.”

If residents are not allowed to harass individuals who do not comply with the ordinance, then neither would they be allowed to harass individuals who meet one of the several listed qualified exceptions.

Mr. Hauser and the Board are aware that some teachers routinely harass students for either not wearing masks or for not wearing them “correctly” even in situations where wearing masks presents a safety risk. Some teachers include mask compliance when determining scores and grades. In the previous Board meeting, a parent testified that under the direction of at least one teacher, students are not allowed to speak to each other during “mask breaks” because doing so is dangerous.

Mr. Hauser and the Board are responsible for said harassment because 1. they do not allow students to abstain from mask use whether they qualify for an exception or not, and 2. they do not correct or reprimand teachers for said harassment. To be clear, teachers who refuse to allow students to speak when unmasked and teachers who refuse to teach children who are unmasked, should not be allowed near children. These teachers are likely mentally ill, victims of non-stop fear-promoting propaganda. (See Mass Formation Psychosis here). The psychological harm they are inflicting on vulnerable children will be lifelong in some cases. A growing number of informed Sitkans hold Mr. Hauser and the Board responsible for the harm they are causing to Sitka children by not protecting them from harmful people and from harmful Covid mitigation strategies.

It is time for Mr. Hauser and the Sitka School Board to protect Sitka students from people and policies that harm children, including anti-scientific Covid mitigation policies and unbalanced teachers. That said, I recognize the fact that the board is in a difficult political position, and that fully revoking mitigation strategies at this time—the morally, ethically, and scientifically correct thing to do—would not go over well in the current zeitgeist of fear and compliance. The second-best option, therefore, would be to fully follow Ordinance 2021-32: continue to require the masking of students, while also allowing for students to abstain from masking as they see fit, and to do so free of harassment from school personnel, as is written in the code. Politically speaking, this is the best option, because the current mask policy violates the ordinance, placing Mr. Hauser and the Board in a precarious legal position.

This is an opportunity for Mr. Hauser and the Sitka School Board to correct mistakes made thus far, and to move toward standing on the right side of history. I pray they will have the courage to do so.

Respectfully,

Brett Wilcox  

Table 1: Evidence showing that COVID-19 lockdowns, use of face masks, school closures, and mask mandates were largely ineffective and caused crushing harms. (This table can be viewed here.)

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Brett Wilcox is a husband, parent, grandparent, and author of three books:

1. JABBED: How the Vaccine Industry, Medical Establishment and Government Stick It to You and Your Family.
2. WE’RE MONSANTO: Feeding the World Lie After Lie.
3. WE’RE MONSANTO: Still Feeding the World, Lie After Lie.