Masks Now Optional!

We are excited to announce that masks will be optional when students return from February break on Monday, 2/28/22.

After two years of the pandemic, we are excited to take this important first step in our path to normalcy. We feel confident in this decision because the school has over a 90% vaccination rate, and we believe that the freedom of not wearing masks is beneficial for students on many levels.

All of the joys of youth require being close to people. They require seeing faces. They require expression. And those years cannot be rewound. Those memories of proms, concert festivals, the goofy expressions in math class, the tears at graduation – those are the strongest memories of our lives, and there are no redos. They are more valuable than our years as adults. Instead of children enjoying these things, and instead of seeing faces, today they see perpetual symbols of fear covering the lower half of people’s heads.

Rice parent and local physician Alicia Cunningham adds: “There are many downsides to masks – especially in the realm of education. Masks inhibit clear communication, expression, social interaction, recognition of faces, and neurodevelopment. And in doing so, rob us of other vital components of health. 


We know some parents may be concerned about potential risk to their children. Consider that for unvaccinated children, the risk of dying in a motor vehicle crash is ten times that of COVID. For vaccinated adults over 65, the risk of dying from a heart attack is fourteen times that of COVID. Another very important point is that vaccinations change these numbers for the better. As more children are vaccinated, risk for severe illness drops even lower.

There will always be uncertainty and risk, in everything we do in our daily lives. COVID introduced more of this uncertainty and risk, but at this stage, it fits squarely into the realm of risks we take on a daily basis.”

We believe, the positive impacts of allowing students and staff to show their faces and to live their lives free of fear and anxiety far outweigh the perceived benefit of continuing to wear a mask. We recognize that this is a process and, in every matter where there are different opinions, we encourage an environment of mutual respect and acceptance. Students and staff who choose to wear a mask or choose to remain unvaccinated will be treated with respect.

For further reading we encourage you to review these articles:

• Kids Shouldn’t have to be ‘Resilient’
• Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, wrote a letter to U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona and the CDC director, Rochelle Walensky, asking for a masking off-ramp. Read NPR Article
• In this same article, Dr. Jeanne Noble, who directs COVID-19 response for the UCSF Emergency Department at the University of California, San Francisco, is part of the coalition. "Kids don't need to be masked. Full stop. They have minuscule risk of serious illness or death from COVID," she says. She and colleagues are suggesting that especially vulnerable children continue to mask while other vaccinated children can safely go without.