Local groups to speak to La Grande School Board tonight in opposition to Governor Browns school mask recommendations
By Shannon McKone on Wednesday, August 4th, 2021 in Northeastern Oregon News Northeastern Oregon Top Stories
LA GRANDE – Late last week Governor Kate Brown directed the “Oregon Health Authority and the Oregon Department of Education to create a rule to require masks indoors for K-12 schools statewide for the 2021-22 school year…” That release can be found here.
Since that time groups around the state have been pushing back against this recommendation by seeking the assistance of school boards, state, county, and city officials to take back control on a local level.
As part of this pushback, representatives from two local groups La Grande and Union County Parents Against Masking Children and Union County Freedom Alliance plan to speak at tonight’s La Grande School District Board Meeting.
Union County Freedom Alliance will hold a prayer for those interested in participating at 6:30 pm, they will have pre-made signs for everyone who goes into the meeting that read “Make Masks Optional.” And they are asking everyone to wear red, white, and blue (preferably no political affiliation)
The school board meeting will begin at 7 pm tonight.
Online : meet.google.com/ivb-idmd-jwh
Phone: +1 636-735-3117 PIN: 986 659 482#
La Grande and Union County Parents Against Masking Children as well as Union County Freedom Alliance are just two of over 40 grassroots groups pushing back on Governor Brown’s recommendations.
The following is a release from Oregon Fights Back
“On 7/29, Oregon Governor Kate Brown issued a statement directing the Oregon Department of Education to create a rule mandating masks K-12 for indoor spaces. This abrupt reversal of returning local control to districts caught Oregon parents, state officials, and district leaders by surprise. Over 40 grassroots organizations from across Oregon convened hours later to launch a strong rebuke:
“Governor Kate Brown has a responsibility to lead the state with stability and transparency. The constant moving of the goal posts and whiplash leadership style must stop. Schools are supposed to be a constant fixture in the lives of children, families, and communities, not a source of uncertainty.” said Glenda Scherer, one of the coalition organizers.
We express extreme opposition to Governor Brown’s latest waffling decision. Stripping control from local elected school boards after she had just returned it on June 25, 2021, is poor leadership. We call on Oregon Democrat leaders to issue a common sense statement telling Governor Brown that she must end her emergency rule of one. We seek assistance from school boards, state, county and city officials to denounce her actions which bring chaos, instability, and uncertainty to communities, schools, and families.
We collect taxes, build buildings, hire teachers, and fund programs for the sole purpose of educating students. It is time to put kids first! Volunteer Oregon school board members and district leaders have exerted valuable effort planning, only to be ambushed with Governor Brown’s erratic decisions.
One school board member stated, “We’re devastated after all the work we have put in.”
We stand with other families across Oregon and will put into motion a Day of Action on August 5, 2021. We remind Governor Brown of her clear directive on June 25, 2021: to leave the decision making to local communities, “when it comes to serving the health and safety needs of students.” If she continues on this contradictory path, it will result in continued chaos, wasted efforts, and division. Schools are supposed to be a constant fixture in the lives of children, families, and communities, not a source of uncertainty.
It is critical Governor Brown return control to local school boards. She has previously admitted that, “The social, emotional, mental, and physical health of so many students is tied to their schools and to the personalized support that educators provide,” and added that “in-person education is an equity issue.” We ask Governor Brown to uphold equity and fulfill her promises. Put kids first!
Please stand with these groups who are working together for the sake of children, families, and strong communities:
Visit www.osusa.org/oregonfightsback for more information.
Blake Bars, spokesperson for Union County Freedom Alliance has issued the following press release
“Masks and COVID vaccines are experimental medical interventions. According to the Nuremberg Code, medical experiments must not be forced but participated in voluntarily. There are no long term studies on efficacy or safety on either masks or COVID vaccines. Masks are causing physiological and psychological harm to our children. COVID vaccines are also causing some alarming health concerns. There are far too many unanswered questions to continue requiring or encouraging masks or vaccines, especially when children who contract COVID have a nearly 100% survival rate.
Even if these interventions were not experimental, medical and pharmaceutical interventions should never be mandated. Medical freedom is a basic human right, and medical mandates are a violation of constitutional and God-given freedoms.
The idea that masks and vaccines are the only way to deal with COVID is far from the truth. There are numerous safe and effective ways to prevent and treat viruses including COVID. One of the many resources on this information can be found in A Guide to Home-Based COVID Treatment published by the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) and can be found at their website: https://aapsonline.org/.
Our focus in this pandemic should have always been robust prevention efforts, early and aggressive treatment, and focused protection of the vulnerable. To learn more about this approach you can visit the Great Barrington Declaration at https://gbdeclaration.org/.
But instead of prevention, treatment and focused protection, we’ve charged ahead with an approach that feeds power, profit and control to elites at the expense of truth, freedom and health for the people. The fact that information about prevention and early treatment has been actively suppressed and censored is unconscionable. For more information on this visit the news release page at: http://www.orthomolecular.org/.
There is a better way forward and together we can turn the tide. Eventually, truth comes to light, freedom defeats tyranny, and good triumphs over evil. But we have to rise up and say no more. We must move beyond left and right, beyond black and white, and as a free people, we must unite.
We are calling on our local school boards and elected officials to honor the oath they swore to uphold The Constitution of the United States and put our kids first by standing up to this abuse of power and by protecting our children from harm. It’s time for them, as many of us have already been doing over the last several months, to put their necks on the line. To risk and sacrifice. No longer can they follow the path of least resistance. No longer can they be silent. For all it takes for evil to triumph is for good men and women to keep quiet and do nothing.
Ronald Reagan said, “The future doesn’t belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave.” The Bible tells us “FEAR NOT” 365 times. That’s one time for every day of the year. It’s time to fire the narrative writers who spew fear and pick up the pen ourselves. We can write a story of how family, freedom and faith conquer fear. We get to write the story for our children and for their future. That’s our job, not theirs.”
Additionally, in response to Governor Brown’s recommendations, Senator Lynn Findley and Representative Mark Owens have issued the following letter to the Governor.
“As legislators, we remain consistent in our positions that our local school districts in conjunction with local public health authorities continue to have the best pulse on their communities and should ultimately be the arbiters of mask policies and mandates.
With that, and in full support of our school districts, public health authorities, parents and ultimately and most importantly our students, we have the following requests.
First, scientific data specific to Oregon necessitating the statewide, schools-wide, grade-wide mask mandate needs to be made public and accessible immediately. Dr. Dean Sidelinger communicated to legislators during a conference call on Monday, August 2 that there is no scientific evidence that schools or children grades K-12 are responsible for community spread. If that is the case and yet the mask mandate is still being instituted, the data needs to be made available to the public – not just legislators or administrators – so we are all operating with transparency and understanding of the science and data.
Second, officials within the Governor’s Office and Oregon Department of Education (ODE) hold a series of public, in-person town halls and listening sessions throughout our counties immediately over the course of the next several weeks. Our teachers, school employees and parents deserve the right to fully understand the rules and the very serious implications (see addendum Exhibit A Slide 14 “Penalties” from an “un-official” meeting held by COSA-OASE on Monday, August 2). These actions need to be made public and official, and these statewide entities have the responsibility to make these decisions known to our school districts. Behind virtual screens, behind closed doors and without enabled participation will not cut it for such significant policy-making determinations.
Third, we need clear and precise metrics for when the statewide mask policy may be lifted. We assume if there is enough data to trigger crossing a threat-threshold to implement these requirements, that there then must also be data showing when we would be under the threat. When will our schools know they’ve met the targets for safety? What are the markers for progress or regression? What’s the viable off-ramp? What other factors will contribute to these determinations? When will your office share these metrics with the public?
We all agree our students cannot suffer another year without in-person instruction. We also agree the health and safety of Oregonians must be a top priority. We now need to agree that building public trust through transparency and providing information before regulation will be key to slowing and eventually stopping the spread of COVID-19 and its variants.
Thank you for your swift and thorough response.
Senator Lynn Findley
Senate District 30
Representative Mark Owens
House District 60”
