The response to the school's masking announcement was quite positive. We appreciate your partnership and support. We are also grateful for those who reached out with concerns. Your feedback is important.
We would like to share some thoughts with you regarding the recent decision to require masking while indoors for all people--adults and children, vaccinated and unvaccinated.
- First and foremost, we are driven simply by answering the question “what’s the best thing for the children?”
- These decisions are not made in a vacuum. Mr. York consulted an untold number of experts and sources and has had, and will continue to have, dozens of conversations with a wide variety of people regarding the current situation.
- The CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics both recommend that masks be worn by everyone at school while indoors.
- The COVID-19 situation in our area has become much more severe recently. To say the least, this is a disturbing trend.
- The Delta variant is highly contagious and it is affecting young adults and children more than past variants. The science is now also indicating that vaccinated individuals are still able to spread the disease.
- Assuming that half of our 12+ year olds have been vaccinated means approximately 225 of our students will be unvaccinated at the start of the school year.
- To allow masks to be optional is not in the best interests of the students or the faculty. We truly believe in the right of parents to decide what’s best for their individual children. However, parental rights are not absolute. Our job is to protect the health of all the children in the school, and we would be negligent if we allowed anyone to put other people’s children at risk.
- We are continually reassessing the COVID-19 situation. The James River community has proven that together we can adjust and respond to this constantly changing situation and this upcoming year will be no different.
As always, we remain grateful for the partnership of all within our community.