Your child comes home from school, filled with bruises. You ask how did it happen? The kid says he was told to do it by a bigger kid. The mother then says, “If the bigger kid told you to jump off a cliff, you would do it?”
That is the what the members of the Simi Valley Unified School District Board (and most other districts) have done. Sacramento, the bigger kid, told the to abuse children by forcing them to wear masks and harm their health. The bullies from the North are telling teachers to either take an experimental drug—that we now see as not working—or you can not teach.
“Under a California public health order, schools are required to ensure kids and adults wear masks in an indoor K-12 setting with a few exemptions. But the K-12 guidance leaves enforcement of this mandate up to local authorities, an ambiguity that has led to protests at schools and in front of school boards across the state.”
So Sacramento tells adults to jum off a cliff and harm little children—and they do it. These school board members do not sound like adults. They sound like little kids accepted being bullied and won’t do the right thing.
‘Let them breathe’: Some Simi Valley parents, community members demand mask choice
Shivani Patel, Ventura County Star, 8/19/21
Editor’s note: This story was updated to clarify that the district is choosing to follow a state mandate, not the public speaker.
Simi Valley parents, community members and others came out in full force Tuesday to argue against masking children.
With perhaps the largest in-person crowd since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Simi Valley Unified School District trustees faced about 40 speakers, the majority of whom critiqued the district for its handling of certain safety protocols, resulting in more than two hours of public comment.
A portion of the protestors also criticized the alleged inclusion of critical race theory in public schools.
The majority of those gathered did not wear masks.
Simi resident Casandra Krisatis said she pulled her kids out of schools because the district does not “have a right over God to make a decision if my kid can breathe or not.” Another parent, Joseph Gold, said his kids would not be covering their faces based on a “man-made virus.”
Brittany Johnson said that the district had the authority to decide mask-wearing rules, and that it was choosing to follow the mandate.
Under a California public health order, schools are required to ensure kids and adults wear masks in an indoor K-12 setting with a few exemptions. But the K-12 guidance leaves enforcement of this mandate up to local authorities, an ambiguity that has led to protests at schools and in front of school boards across the state.
Tamara Washburn, a teacher in the district, was one of two speakers to thank district leaders for enforcing masks. She said she was mandated to “protect your babies” to the audience gathered, and ask them to think about how it would feel if their children got the virus and possibly died or passed it on to someone else.
“I have seen teachers that have passed away from COVID,” she said. “I have seen young children pass away from COVID.”
Krisatis and several others made calls to pull kids out of Simi public schools.
“I love these schools, I love the staff, I love our police officers, but I do not like our choices being taken away,” Krisatis said.
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Speakers like Simi parent Cathy Buschold had concerns for the “parental role” the administrators were taking in their children’s lives.
She was particularly concerned about the district’s new coordinator of diversity, equity, inclusion and humanities, Angelica Chavez. She referred to the themes as “principles of critical race theory.” This concern came up with numerous public speakers.
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Critical race theory is an academic concept that looks at the role of race and racism in institutions and policies. The theory is not generally taught in K-12 classes, and it is not a direct equivalent to diversity, equity and inclusion.
Diversity, equity and inclusion measures have been an effort in Simi schools for decades, said district spokesperson Jake Finch.
Related news:Rally in Thousand Oaks rails against ‘wokeness,’ critical race theory
Chavez’s role, in part, is meant to help create and boost civics-based programs and initiatives in the district to highlight “the dispositions of a democratic society which informs and empowers its constituents to live and act together with respect and civil courtesy,” according to the job description.
Trustees could not speak on the concerns because of the Brown Act, the state’s open meeting law. Superintendent Jason Peplinski was not in attendance at the meeting due to quarantine.
In a statement read by Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services Hani Youssef, Peplinski said it was important to stay diligent with safety measures due to an increase in COVID-19 cases across the county and in schools that are open.
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Within the last 14 days as of Thursday, only a few days into the school year Simi Valley Unified reported 37 positive student cases and 12 staff cases. More than half of the district’s schools are reporting at least one case.
Youssef, who helped run the meeting in Peplinski’s absence, said that while the district is excited to be back in person, the conditions are not ideal.
As he got pushback from audience members mid-comment, he explained that the school board as well as staff were made up of Simi Valley parents and community members too.
“(A)s school officials, we do not interpret the mandates that are given to us,” Youssef said. “We enforce them as they come.”
Even more complaints came from the audience, one alleging the district did have the authority to make a choice in enforcement, and Youssef abruptly stopped.
“I’m going to stop my comments at this point because you’re not interested in what I have to say,” he said. “I’m going to thank you for your time, and maybe next time we’ll have an opportunity to engage in more dialogue.”
