Pastor Speaks Out at School Board Meeting Over Mask Mandate

Speech to Fergus Falls School Board - Monday night - Oct. 11th.

Hello, My name is Tim Molter, I have children in the School District, and I'm also a pastor and taxpayer in the community. I’d like to start by saying I think there are three main things about mask mandate that bother me. The first is, Who decided this, and second, How it was decided, the third is Why it was decided.

So who decided this? We were told in the Oct. 4th email from Superintendent Jeff Drake that he had a conversation around Oct. 1st, with a state disease expert, and that cases are expected to continue to climb, with a potential peak in early November. And so we have the mask mandate for the kids based on a potential, and now we hear the story changing that the MN department of health was also in that conversion.

The School Board minutes show on August 23rd, Stephen Vigesaa proposed a resolution giving the Superintendent the ability to make these decisions while responding to the pandemic, as did Melanie Cole at the Meeting last year on August 10th. Why didn’t the elected board didn’t want the responsibility to call a meeting and vote on these things if needed?

I found that, per School District Policy 302, these personal judgments by the Superintendent are not final until examined by the School Board. So did the board review? I truly hope so, but we have no public record of that taking place.

Now, some of my children fall into the mask exemption criteria according to the CDC, so they are not required to wear a mask, and I’ve informed their teachers of this as well, who by the way have done an excellent job and are also tired of the mask mandates.

Yet many of us are puzzled about why the mandate for this young age group. We have been constantly told by health experts as quoted in the NY Post that “Children are less at risk of COVID, according to the vast amount of data we have gathered over the last year and a half of the pandemic, and the last year of vaccine research.”

Why was this done? It would appear because those students are not yet old enough to be vaccinated. And, I'm not against vaccines or masks, just against the mandates to wear a mask or get the jab. But we need common sense, as most parents don't give their kids flu shots, and mask mandates didn't slow covid last year, so why do we think this would work now? And if this is affecting everybody, why only mandate Pre-k to 6th grade?

Why is proper handwashing no longer mentioned? Recently, three Pfizer scientists admitted that natural immunity to the coronavirus offers better protection than the vaccine. Yet the CDC and the state department of health refuses to even address the possibility of natural immunity, as does this district, as many kids now have natural immunity against this respiratory illness.

Also, as a Pastor at Calvary Chapel, I've talked with families whose students have been bullied at school over the mask mandate last year, and I've also talked to students who are being treated differently from others by teachers, and I'm sad to think of this happening to them again this year. And this mask mandate tries to override the God given authority of the parents to govern the health of their children and family.

Many have failed to consider the effects of masking on our kids, such as the psychological, developmental and social toll and the stigma of being bullied over not wearing a mask.

Lastly, I would like to see the elected board vote to remove the mask mandate for preK to 6th grade students or the superintendent reverse his mandate decision. Thank you and I hope we can have a better school year.