Editor,

As a retired high school registrar and former junior high principal’s secretary and office manager, I write to express my deep concern over the recent lifting of the state mask mandate, the lowering of the vaccine priority for our teachers from 1B to 1C and what appears to be stubbornness and/or indifference on the part of the school district administration regarding the danger posed by COVID-19 to our teachers, building support staff, students and by extension, all our families.

I believe I heard the CDC will raise the vaccine priority for teachers who teach in a high poverty area. I hope that’s true; the last I knew, over 70% of our students were eligible for the free/reduced meal program.

If our teachers and building support staff cannot get a vaccine NOW, why wouldn’t the administration put into place the best possible policies to ensure we all come out of this alive? Why is wearing or not wearing a mask something that can be “shamed?” That is language used in a statement that appears on the school district website this week.

What are they talking about? Has someone threatened the district with a lawsuit over mask wearing? Nothing makes a board or admin more nervous than “liability’ or the threat of legal action. If these small school staff do get sick, our schools will shut down faster than you can blink. When school opened last Fall there were approximately 100+ cases of COVID-19 in Sanders County; as of today, there have been over 560 cases. What does that statistic suggest that now would be a good time to stop wearing masks?

Our teachers have done all that has been asked of them, and then some, this school year while risking their own safety to see that all our kids, YOUR kids, are educated to the best of their ability under these trying and dangerous circumstances.

Some of our local shopkeepers have made it all but impossible to “shop local” in a safe manner. They do not require their employees or customers to wear masks in their stores. They post signs saying something like “if you don’t have a mask on, we will assume you have a condition that prevents you from wearing one.” I stood in the doorway of a store after reading that sign and marveled at the fact that no one I could see had a mask on. I asked a checker just inside the building what that meant. She replied, “we have a medical condition.” I counted approximately 10 people in the store and asked “Does that mean everyone in here is ill? I think I won’t come in to shop!”

Wearing a mask is a SELFLESS act; it is about protecting those around you, it is not a SELFISH act. I wear a mask everywhere I go. Why is it inappropriate or shameful, to expect the same courtesy, the same care and consideration from those around us?

I have a choice where I shop. Teachers do not have a choice as to where they teach. I would encourage the school board and administration to reconsider their position on the wearing of masks in buildings and on

school grounds. It may just save a life, maybe even the life of someone you love.

Margaret Smallwood,

Thompson Falls