Dear [Your Local School Board Member & Lawmakers]:

I am writing to ask for your support of Maury County School's student, Avalon McCartney, and her petition for a mask requirement so that schools can reopen - and stay open - more safely.

Now more than ever, this virus has shown us that we are dependent on our school teachers and on each other.

While many Maury County students, teachers, local businesses and parents are working hard to do their part to protect others we have seen more and more getting sick, hospitalized or dying because of all those who won't. Will you do your part to make sure our schools are safe for students, teachers and our families?

COVID-19 cases in Maury County Schools are still at critical levels. This is largely due to the lack of masks and social distancing procedures in schools. This affects not only those who get sick but also the students who are forced to stay home due to school shut downs.

This is is a serious problem with a simple solution: mask requirements that health experts have said we've needed for months in order to keep schools and businesses safely open. Tens of thousands of Tennessee health professionals, the CDC and the White House Covid Task Force have all called for mask requirements to make schools safe.

Counties without mask mandates have seen higher death rates and COVID spread greater than counties with mask mandates.
The result: schools struggling to stay open because of sick employees or students..

Our own health depends on the health of the person next to us, and the person next to them.

Some seek to turn us toward going it alone and fear of making small sacrifices to protect each other in response to this viral outbreak. But we know that our own wellbeing is tied to everyone else’s.

Will you do what the health experts have called for to ensure our schools are safe places for everyone: students, teachers and families including:

1. Mask requirements so that students and teachers doing their part to protect others aren't endangered by those who refuse
2. Distancing requirements
3. Air circulation and ventilation requirements
4. Testing and contact tracing to adequately identify and stop chains of transmission

We are all better off when we are all healthy.

People who refuse to do their part and wear masks to protect others shouldn't be allowed to endanger the health and wellbeing of other students, teachers or our families.

Whether it’s people with chronic health conditions or people without shelter, teachers or parents, people living in detention, people providing vital services or those who can’t forgo a paycheck to stay home, we must ensure all of us can access the care we need and have the support required to protect everyone’s health.

Can I count on you to make our schools safe places for students and teachers by reopening based on what the health experts say should guide reopening: prevalence of COVID spread, mask requirements for schools, and other health protections to ensure schools are safe for both teachers and students?