‘Many of us will not be masking our kids, will not be vaccinating our kids’

Danielle Decker stood at the School Committee podium in an American flag mask Tuesday night and accused them of being complacent.

As one of the more outspoken residents against COVID-19 precautions, including vaccines and masking children during the school day, Decker said she was speaking for residents who were afraid to speak.

“I’ve heard from teens who are afraid of being bullied for not wearing a mask,” Decker said.

Earlier in the day, the Massachusetts Board of Education announced an indoor mask mandate for all students in K-12 schools until at least October 1. Should a school have a vaccination rate of 80 percent or more after that date, masks may become optional.

But with school starting on Tuesday, Decker, one of several to speak out against masks during the School Committee’s public comment session, was more concerned about the here and now.

“You are not alone,” she said, addressing parents watching the meeting. “Many of us will not be masking our kids, will not be vaccinating our kids.”

Of her own children, she said “They love their country and they know there are only two genders.”

Nearly 18,000 people in Massachusetts have died since the start of the Covid pandemic, 628,000 nationwide. While the summer started with most removing their masks in public thanks to widespread vaccinations, the rise of the highly infectious Delta variant and large outbreaks in states with minimal vaccinations have brought about the return of masks. 

A return, that is, unless they believe masks and vaccines never worked in the first place.

“There is no pandemic,” another woman said, invoking “the fraud” of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who has served as a lead member of the White House Covid-19 Response Team, appointed by then-President Donald Trump.

She advised parents to homeschool rather than send their children to school in masks. As evidence that masks do not work, she said she still managed to get bronchitis last winter and now has panic attacks when forced to wear one.

Kathleen St. George said that people are too afraid of “the mob” to speak out, suggesting “it starts like the start of every genocidal regime in history.”

A Keith Hill resident added his two cents on Critical Race Theory. “Children have to be carefully taught to hate.”

Grafton schools are not teaching Critical Race Theory, an academic argument that “recognizes that racism is codified in law, embedded in structures, and woven into public policy,” according to the American Bar Association.

The School Committee did not respond to any of the speakers. Later in the meeting, School Committee member Laura Often said that since the topics were not included on the night’s agenda, discussion would violate the Open Meeting Law.

Something went wrong!

Help support Grafton’s only independent source of news with a donation!