Open Letter to the Governor of Massachusetts — August 2021

I wrote the following letter shortly before BESE voted to grant the Commissioner of Education the authority to mandate masks in schools throughout the state. I sent the letter to the governor and to the Boston Globe (it was not selected for publication.) I wanted to share it here anyway.

August 19, 2022

Dear Gov. Baker,

As a leader you know that it is much easier to disagree with a decision already made than it is to be the decision maker. My small town is being ripped apart over a decision that must be made. I Imagine many other towns across the state are, too.

School committees in small towns like mine are designed to set the standards of education for the students in their care. They are not public health officials. They are not policymakers. They are the friends, family, and neighbors we entrust with our children’s schooling. It is unfair that they are now faced with the decision of whether or not to require students and staff to wear masks during the upcoming school year — a decision which has sadly become politically driven instead of data driven.

As you know, the CDC and AAP recommend universal masking in schools regardless of vaccination status. DESE recommends masking for anyone unvaccinated. You also know that children under age 12 do not yet have a vaccine available to them. As of the writing of this letter, my town’s school board is leaning towards optional masking at all grade levels — a decision that I and many other parents believe is ill-informed and irresponsible.

But I am not writing to you today to express my feelings on whether or not children should be masked. I am writing to you because there is another issue at play here. Our school board members are placed in the position to make a decision that will anger a large percentage of my town’s population, no matter what decision they make. I understand that this comes part and parcel with holding an elected position, but in a town with a population less than 20,000 people, the impacts from this level of division may be permanent. In towns this small, we all have to work together, raise our children together, and rebuild our community together after the economic damage from the pandemic. We cannot do these things if we hate each other.

I understand you feel that these decisions should be made on a community by community basis. You mentioned that communities in other states have been put in a position where they feel they need to openly defy their governor’s orders in an effort to protect children and families. The difference in those cases is that those governors — the governors in Texas and Florida for example — are knowingly and intentionally endangering people.

I am asking you to rise up to the level of leadership you showed at the start of the pandemic and take this huge burden off the shoulders of everyday folks who have admirably stepped up to serve their communities so they can focus on providing for the educational needs of our children. If you make this decision for us, then those who disagree will no longer have to direct their anger at their neighbors. Please be the leader we need you to be, so that our communities have a chance to heal and move forward.

Gratefully,
Julie Snee