5. Respiratory Hazards of Masks: Appropriate Special Education Accommodations with Megan Mansell

“It begs repeating, and with great emphasis, that every mask you have ever seen on a child is unregulated, untested, and unsafe, with zero efficacy, fit, term of wear, or medical clearance standards. Zero.”

– Megan Mansell

While most schools have dropped school-wide mask policies, at least one school in Vermont has continued to require students and staff in specific classrooms to wear face masks again this year (2022-23) at the advice of their special education team. While schools are required to provide safe and appropriate special education accommodations in schools, masks are neither, as Megan Mansell explains.

Megan Mansell is a former district education director over special populations integration, serving students who are profoundly disabled, immunocompromised, undocumented, autistic, and behaviorally challenged; she also has a background in hazardous environs PPE applications. She is experienced in writing and monitoring protocol implementation for immunocompromised public sector access under full ADA/OSHA/IDEA compliance. (Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Americans with Disabilities Act, and Individuals with Disabilities Act)

One of the multidisciplinary experts from the Frontline Doctors’ Industrial Hygiene and Multidisciplinary Support Summit, and author of "Accommodating Chaos: Correcting Course on a Plague of Disinformation."

Megan addresses why every mask we see on a child is completely unregulated, untested, unsafe, not to mention unethical, and why the continued use of masks in schools as a special education accommodation is inappropriate and unnecessary. What alternatives exist to protect students and adults with special health needs?