Sign our Petition for Safer Schooling Options
Massachusetts must create opt-in public schooling with layered public health protections.
Public education is a right for all children – and Massachusetts is a national leader in public education. However, during the ongoing COVID pandemic, public schools have become inaccessible to many Massachusetts families because of the high risk of infection from viruses that spread through the air. This risk has risen as pandemic protections such as masking, surveillance testing, and isolation recommendations have been eliminated, while new COVID variants have continued to emerge.
We are gathering names on a petition to lawmakers at all levels calling on them to work with affected communities to create publicly-funded safer schooling options that employ layers of protection including universal masking, air filtration and ventilation which meet the new ASHRAE Standard 241 for educational facilities, surveillance testing and scientifically-grounded isolation measures.
You can sign the petition at this link and read the full text here and below. Please share widely within your communities and organizations.
Safer Schooling Options for our Children: Massachusetts must create opt-in public schooling with layered public health protections.
A petition by Massachusetts Coalition for Health Equity
Add your name via this link:
Public education is a right for all children – and Massachusetts is a national leader in public education. However, during the ongoing COVID pandemic, public schools have become inaccessible to many Massachusetts families because of the high risk of infection from viruses that spread through the air. This risk has risen as pandemic protections such as masking, surveillance testing, and isolation recommendations have been eliminated, while new COVID variants have continued to emerge.
This issue is particularly concerning for disabled and immunocompromised children, as well as children who live in multigenerational households and with caregivers who have one or more risk factors for severe COVID. In April 2024, CDC director Mandy Cohen issued new recommendations to schools, calling on them to independently determine their COVID safety, isolation, and testing policies. The CDC’s recommendation opens the door for schools to take a more cautious approach to COVID mitigation.
As community members and caregivers of young children, we write today in support of giving families the option to have their children in public school settings that provide multi-layered protective measures to reduce infection risk, such as universal masking, air filtration and ventilation which meet the new ASHRAE Standard 241 for educational facilities. Public funds could support safer schooling in multiple ways, and we call on you to work with affected communities to adopt community-requested and appropriate responses.
While many families and staff are not currently concerned with layered COVID precautions, public policymaking has left those who are concerned in a difficult position. Many have opted for homeschool or virtual school, often as a non-ideal but necessary solution. These forced choices also negatively impact public schools, exacerbating existing enrollment drops and subsequent funding cuts. While many families continue to send their children to school masked, one-way masking offers insufficient protection and is an inadequate public health strategy alone. Many children who continue to mask in public schools face bullying and peer pressure to unmask in the classroom – serious issues which Massachusetts legislators recently have boldly taken up legislatively. There is another path forward that can benefit both families and the public school system.
We the undersigned call on our Massachusetts lawmakers and state officials to establish opt-in public schooling that employs layers of protection as accessibility measures to allow children and staff to avoid COVID and other respiratory illnesses. This will vastly increase access to this vital public service for the many Massachusetts residents who face impossible decisions while attempting to keep our families safe and healthy. It will also return much needed funding to our state’s public school systems, which have suffered funding cuts in recent months.
Over four years into the pandemic, COVID remains dangerous and deadly, significantly reducing life expectancy in the US. Further, all people are at risk of developing Long COVID and associated diseases which encompass some 200 medical issues. The risks increase with each reinfection. Studies continue to show a range of health problems that can be traced to COVID infections, including the risk of developing new auto-immune conditions, brain damage, hearing loss, and cardiovascular disorders.
COVID remains a leading cause of death for children, and recent research has shown that up to six million children in the US suffer from Long COVID. Even after a mild or asymptomatic infection, children may experience symptoms including muscle and joint pain and muscle impairments, intense fatigue, cognitive impairment, concentration and focus difficulties, and sleep disruption. Studies show Long COVID can have a detrimental impact on learning. Children with a previous COVID-19 infection are more likely to develop kidney problems, type 1 diabetes, blood clots, and heart problems. This past August 2024, 0-11 year olds visited emergency rooms for COVID more than any other age group, including people over 75.
While staying up-to-date on COVID boosters reduces chances of death, severe COVID, Multisystem inflammatory Syndrome and Long COVID in children, only 14% of US children are up-to-date on boosters, and Massachusetts is no longer reporting booster data. Children, including asymptomatic children, remain key carriers spreading COVID in their households, their education sites, places of worship and beyond. In addition to suffering direct harm to their own health, COVID-infected children can infect teachers and other adults, including household members who may become seriously ill, unable to work, and perhaps unable to care for them.
The ongoing burden of COVID-19 raises enormous race and class health equity issues: death, caregiver loss, and severe disease continue to disproportionately impact Indigenous, Black, Latinx, and working class communities – for many reasons, including high-risk jobs, more crowded living situations, and inadequate access to health care. Black and Latinx and poor people continue to be less likely to be fully vaccinated and boosted. However, studies also show that we are all vulnerable to the adverse impacts of COVID-19.
Universal masking, air ventilation and filtration, testing, and an evidence-based isolation and quarantine policy are proven measures key to reducing the spread of respiratory illnesses in classrooms and to keeping children and our communities more safe. These protections are urgently needed because vaccination reduces but does not eliminate the risks of getting COVID, spreading it, and getting Long COVID.
Massachusetts families and educators have the right to public schooling in an environment that reduces the spread of respiratory illness and acknowledges the serious risk of COVID-19 infection. We call on you to work with the representatives of this letter’s signers to devise and implement adequate strategies for safer schooling.