The Anchorage School Board and Superintendent Deena Bishop have received up to 50 letters in what appears to be a stealth campaign coordinated by the local teachers’ union, Anchorage Education Association, asking for a mask mandate for all students and staff when school resumes this fall.
Dave Donley, a member of the Anchorage school board, said on the Mike Porcaro Show on 650 KENI radio that the mask mandate could be imminent, if parents don’t get involved. He has not been able to get a commitment from the superintendent one way or the other, he said.
Many of the letters coming into the school board have similar wording to them, and the letter writers are teachers or people who say they are parents.
Sources say that Superintendent Bishop may make a decision within a few days about whether students will be required to wear masks.
Some of the letters are citing a new recommendation from the American Academy of Pediatrics, which says children over the age of 2 should be masked in school this fall, even if they are vaccinated. That is not the guidance from the Centers for Disease Control.
The pediatricians organization in its updated guidelines says that an added benefit to wearing masks is that masks will slow down the transmission of other respiratory illnesses such as colds and flu.
Those with opinions on the matter may write to Bishop at [email protected] or to the school board at [email protected].
Read: Kodiak pre-K through grade 5 may be forced into masks again.
