30
Nov 2020
Mandatory Masks At School Are Not Cool
- Southeast Cornerstone School Division Letter – Superintendent
- Southeast Cornerstone School Division Response Letter – Travis Patron
TO:
Kevin Hengen
Superintendent of Schools East Service Area
South East Cornerstone Public School Division
80A-18th Street Northeast,
Weyburn, Saskatchewan
S4H 2W4
FROM:
Travis Patron
Canadian Nationalist Party
PO Box 490,
Redvers, Saskatchewan
S0C 2H0
DATE: Monday, November 30th, 2020
South East Cornerstone Public School Division – Response Letter
Mr. Superintendent,
This is an acknowledgement that we have received your recent letter referencing a potential violation of s. 367 of The Education Act, 1995 by alleging acting with rude or indecent behaviour when we attended the Redvers School on Tuesday, November 24th, 2020. Let me first and foremost object to the accusation that we conducted ourselves rudely or indecently. We have not. There is nothing rude or indecent about objecting to an unconstitutional provincial mandate requiring the use of masks in public schools. There is nothing rude or indecent about raising one’s voice in the face of oppression either, and this is how we currently characterize the government administration at the provincial level and beyond.
In March of this year, we served the Government Of Saskatchewan a Notice Of Objection in regard to their declared state of emergency on the grounds that is it unprecedented and unnecessary and that it has a high probability of causing undo suppression of our economic conditions – especially in rural areas of the province. We believe these words to be self-evident today and intend on continuing to stand in objection to this declared state of emergency.
We interpret your immediate decision to prohibit us from entering the school or being on school property in response to our activism (read: inquiring in-person about a public schools mask policy) as relatively undiplomatic and perhaps even unbecoming of a superintendent dealing with a federal party leader headquartered in the municipality. No effort to listen to our perspective or address our questions has been made whatsoever. This is disappointing to us.
Mandating masks in public facilities, including for staff and students at school is uncalled for and unnecessary unless the current government administration is able to justify them.
I’m willing to bet that if an anonymous poll were held today, the majority of students and staff alike would vehemently reject mandatory masks.
As an alumni, this is not the first time I’ve raised my voice at Redvers School in objection to something I believe to be fundamentally wrong (mandatory masks) and if I have my way, it most certainly won’t be the last …
Sincerely,
