PIERRE, S.D. (KELO.com) — One of Gov. Kristi Noem’s aides sent out an email tonight clarifying the Governor’s position on whether school children should wear masks when school resumes this fall.
Noem policy advisor Maggie Seidel sent the following email:
Folks – There seems to be some confusion about the Governor’s position on masks (largely attributable to an in-artfully crafted campaign email).
I’d direct you back to the Governor’s statements from Tuesday. If people want to wear masks, that’s absolutely their prerogative – she has never discouraged wearing them. She has – and continues – to oppose mandatory masking. As it relates to children, what we’ve seen in European schools and elsewhere is promising – kids are in school, without distancing and without masks, and there continue to be very low transmission rates. And as the Governor pointed out (notably with Stephen (Groves from the AP)) on Tuesday, some medical experts are quite concerned about whether it is practical to ask kids to wear these masks properly for long periods of time. She is encouraging schools to allow each family and child to make their own decisions about masking.
Below is the fundraising email that the Noem campaign sent out yesterday that Seidel references:
Fellow Conservative,
Our kids in South Dakota and across the country deserve the best opportunities that we adults can provide them.
That’s why Governor Kristi Noem will not issue a state-wide mandate for distance learning, and is encouraging all families to send their children back to school — without masks.
While online learning got us through the initial phase of COVID-19, it has been greatly detrimental to our children’s education. Preliminary research shows that kids only gained about 70% of learning in gains in reading compared to a regular school year. For math, it was even worse at just 50%. Low-income and minority children were hit even harder with learning losses.
This simply cannot go on, and the governor is committed to providing the opportunity for all children to thrive, not just those whose parents can afford a private tutor or other specialized distance learning opportunities.
We are blessed here in South Dakota with many fantastic, committed educators. They went above and beyond this past spring to teach our kids online, but sadly, they couldn’t reach everyone.
Governor Noem wants to make sure that our most vulnerable children don’t fall through the cracks. It is vitally important that we give every student access to the full educational experience.
While it will be down to every school district to decide how they want to handle the mask issues, the governor believes that they should be optional only. Children, especially young children, have an extraordinarily difficult time wearing masks, and wearing them may actually increase rates of infection.
Kids constantly fidget with masks, touch their faces, drop masks on the floor and put them back on … and possibly even trade with each other. We believe that when it comes to children, masks have the potential to do more harm than good.
South Dakota took a unique approach to handling the coronavirus pandemic from the beginning, and thanks to Governor’s Noem’s leadership, we continue to lead the nation in freedom, liberty, and opportunity.
If you agree that kids need to be back in school, will you chip in what you can now to help keep Governor Noem in the Governor’s Office?
(NOTE: The remainder of the email is how to contribute to the Noem campaign.)
