SUSAN PRITCHARD, Ph.D.
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Thank you, madam President for a moment of time for my closing remarks.
First of all, a BIG THANK YOU to all of the schools and staff and students in La Habra for CELEBRATING READING AND DR. SEUSS’S BIRTHDAY! I was privileged to read one of my favorite books, Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathman in Mrs. Bannon’s first grade class at Las Positas. The students interacted with fun enthusiasm as I read, asked questions and listened to their responses. I want to thank Mrs. Bannon and all of her students for an enjoyable time last week.
Another BIG THANK YOU AND KUDOS goes to Mrs. Linda Cugini and her third grade class for inviting me to attend the Butterfly Release last Friday. Her students just completed a wonderful journey learning the life cycles of butterflies, from caterpillar to butterfly, and while learning they were also “doing” because they had living caterpillars that they cared for and observed through their life cycles. The culmination of all of their science learnings was the release of the butterflies and it was indeed an exciting event.
As some who were present at February’s board meeting, I spoke my personal beliefs regarding COVID mandates and how well I truly believe our district’s entire family of staff and students has put in place and followed effectively the safety precautions over the past two years, utilizing the public health guidelines, while keeping the learning happening as best as possible. As with my closing remarks last month, the following are my personal beliefs as I am not the spokesperson for the board, that privilege belongs to our president.
Having said that, I want to voice my appreciation and true gratitude that after midnight tomorrow night, as I understand it, masking will no longer be mandated at La Habra City School District campuses, it will be optional. The option to wear or not to wear a mask is a welcomed freedom returned, and I believe and thank everyone as we all respect each others’ choices.
Although not to diminish freedom of choice for mask wearing, vaccine mandates, however, appear to still be in our future if current legislative actions are voted into law. May I ask you to consider what is your opinion of vaccine mandates, would you be open to researching the most recent and science-based literature regarding the efficacy and effectiveness of the current vaccines, and would you share your opinions with our state legislature, governor, Congress people and US Senators? I am aware that many have done so already.