Hello my name is Michele Rohr. I have been a resident of Ukiah for 34 years. I owned and operated a salon for 20 years in downtown Ukiah and I am a fitness instructor at Ukiah Valley Athletic Club. I am writing today in hopes to gain your support in promoting optional face coverings when returning back to school for the 2021-2022 school year. As a mother of a five year old girl, Capri, I am deeply saddened that she will not be able to attend her kindergarten year if the mask mandate is not lifted. This is for many reasons including but not limited to scientific research that shows that the risks outweigh the benefits undeniably (I can provide you all with all the research that has been done). In 2020 when the pandemic came upon all of us I was more than happy to entrust that these mandates were for our protection but here we are in 2021 and it is time to get back to normalcy for our kids as numbers don't lie and the masks are not the answer to this nonsensical pandemic. We are going to have bigger problems on our hands as a community if we don't come together and put a stop to this. It is my understanding at a local level we are not making these decisions as of now. It is my goal to, encourage and educate, for when we are able to; we will have our board right beside us standing up for the sovereignty of the parents and the physical and mental health of our children.
Lastly, I would like to ask that this agenda item gets expanded and added to the next Board of Supervisors meeting in August (preferably before school starts) to cover the return to the 2021-2022 academic school year with masks being optional. If it is possible I would like to have a meeting take place even sooner so we can understand more of what we can do to protect our children.