Children have suffered greatly during COVID lockdowns. They have endured profound difficulty in adjusting to online learning, facial coverings, and isolation from friends. As adults have failed them, they are beginning to bravely stand up for themselves against the asininity of school mask mandates for children.
Most reopened public schools have mandated strict masking policies for over a year. But a few select districts in the country have protested the requirements, and those schools are growing in number. Encouraged by Gov. Ron DeSantis’s ban on all COVID mandates in public places, emboldened Florida parents and their children are speaking out against schools still enforcing restrictions.
In a May Martin County School Board meeting, 10-year-old John said, “Teachers take their masks off, while they yell at us kids that we need to pull ours up. All this seems unfair and it doesn’t make sense.” Calling out the hypocrisy, John described how the mask makes him feel anxious and worsens his allergies. The articulate fourth grader later told Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade that he notices people don’t recognize one another anymore when masked, which he says is “dehumanizing.”
Yet even after powerful testimonials, Martin County school leaders ruled to continue enforcing masks through the remainder of the school year.
Kindergartener Sayla addressed the Collier County School Board in May, saying, “Kids are breathing in the same dirty air and my cousin said they are afraid to take off their masks. Great job, you’re creating public schools with fearful children. Wow! I’m so proud of you guys! Wow, wow, amazing!” As the audience laughingly cheered on the feisty girl’s sarcasm, Sayla said, “God created us as free people.”
Giving the school board a brief history lesson, Sayla said, “George Washington made America so we could be free citizens … and the Statue of Liberty is for liberty and freedom and we’re not free … so stand up and take masks off these children! Don’t be afraid!”
But her pleas fell on deaf ears: the school board continued enforcing masks for the remainder of the school year and only ended the mandate for the summer session.
Pinellas County conducted sequential school board meetings at the end of April, in May, and in June on the topic of masking children. Eight-year-old Myla described how she is now homeschooled because of the strict masking. Gracie, with her friend Carly by her side, said, “You know I am tired of what you are doing to my friends and other kids … They’re always six feet [apart] in masks and it’s your fault. You’re causing fear.”
Meekly asking for the board to listen, Gracie said, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Stop listening to the devil, listen to God, our Holy Father. Be baptized in the Holy Spirit. Unmask my friends.”
Carly echoed her friend’s sentiments, saying, “It’s time people start using their intuition and stop being guided by fear … Immune systems on, masks off.”
Unlike other counties in Florida, the Pinellas School Board was eventually convinced and rescinded the mask mandate on June 8.
These specific students are a few out of many who have taken a stand against masking in schools. Numerous elementary and middle-school-age children recounted experiencing headaches, claustrophobia, nosebleeds, near suffocation, trouble concentrating, and the loss of seeing smiles.
Science supports these young students’ pleas, as children and adolescents have a lower chance of catching COVID and are less likely to have a severe case than adults. As of June 10, 14.1 percent of all U.S. COVID cases have been children, with 0.1 to 1.9 percent of those cases resulting in hospitalization; 0.00 to 0.03 percent of all child COVID cases resulted in death. The recent scandal surrounding Dr. Anthony Fauci’s apparent deceit on the efficacy of masks for uninfected people further underscores the foolishness of masking children.
The knowledge and logic on masks are in plain sight, but those in authority failed children. Yet the truth courageously and innocently came from those often deemed “the least of these.” They offer hope for the future.
