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David Casavant of Hampden is a parent of a student in RSU 22.
At the RSU 22 special school board meeting on Aug. 24, parents and others presented heartfelt arguments with respect to mask mandates in school. There is the position that parents should have the freedom of choice. The other side is that the school boards should mandate masks due to the current health crisis associated with COVID-19.
I attempted to offer a perspective that was based on something other than personal experience or emotion. I suggested that we often willingly give up our freedoms so as to be able to benefit from an orderly society. The essential idea is this: If we organize as a group under certain rules and understandings that necessarily limit our actions and choices, we can achieve common goals and objectives.
The formal expression of this concept is through social compacts such as the Mayflower Compact and the U.S. Constitution. We also give effect to the social compact through laws and customs. For example, we forgo our freedom of choosing to drive on the left side of the road since our social compact, expressed through enforceable laws, requires us to drive on the right. Though these laws are enforceable and we would be punished for doing otherwise, few would argue that each of us should have the choice to make the daily decision as to which side of the road to drive on.
Another example is that, for over 100 years, states have made school compulsory for children, thereby limiting the choice of parents with regard to whether to educate their children. According to the social compact, local school boards are specifically empowered to promote a supportive learning environment.
Illness interrupts learning. Accordingly, immunizations against illness have been required for many years. Requiring masks is a legitimate extension of the effort to prevent illness and promote health in schools. School boards acting with authority to require masks are not being authoritarian. Gathering credible evidence of the current crisis is not fear mongering.
In light of my thoughts on social compact, I found it challenging to consider that those favoring a mask-optional approach were essentially arguing that others should accept health risks so parents could exercise freedom of choice. Even if there is the slightest chance that wearing masks could prevent transmission of a virus that has resulted in significant health challenges, the disruption of lives, and a painful death for so many, those in support of the social compact would willingly limit their freedom for the good of their neighbor and the common good. The mask-optional position also creates an awkward situation for members of any school board who have a duty to exercise due care for students in their districts.
An emotional approach to decision-making leads us to forget that the person on the other side of the argument is our neighbor. Instead, we will feel the need to speak more emotionally about our personal experiences and opinions in order to be heard and in our attempt to influence the social compact.
Given that responding to COVID is not a private matter, but a public health one, this approach does not work. Too much emotional capital has been spent for anyone to feel heard or satisfied regardless of the outcome. Relying on a social compact approach could remind us that we are all neighbors who willingly give up some freedoms so we can achieve greater liberties, rights, and privileges associated with the common good.
While my presentation was directed at the RSU 22 School Board, all of us need to tend to our social compacts by being willing to forgo certain liberties and act with regard to others as much as we act with regard to ourselves. Tending to the social compact helps preserve it. In light of our social compact and the current pandemic, wearing a mask is not too much to ask.