MANY, La – A local mom of three has become somewhat of an advocate for the health and safety of not just her children, but all children in the parish following the recent mask mandate made by Governor John Bell Edwards.
What started as a simple facebook post made by Kresha Matkin to her personal page has quickly grown into an activist group filled with over 1.1k concerned parents in Sabine Parish. The main issue and topic of discussion amongst parents in the group is how to stand together and create a solution to the mask mandate requiring all school aged children, 5 and older, to wear masks when returning to school for the start of the 2021 school year.
With this issue front of mind and the support of many parents in the parish, Matkin made arrangements to formally present her concerns to the school board at a special meeting held on Monday, August 9th at the school board office. Once there, however, Matkin quickly realized that due to the size of the location, not all parents would have the same opportunity to speak or hear the thoughts of the school board. Kresha did what she believed to be in the best interest of the group as a whole at this point and requested another special meeting to be held at a later date at a location large enough to house the concerned parents and give them their time to voice their concerns as well.
After hearing Mrs. Matkin’s plea for another meeting to allow the parents, and taxpayers, their time to speak their piece, the Sabine Parish School Board unanimously voted to hold a second special meeting at Many High School on August 26th.
According to Kresha, the goal of the group is to find a way to legally and peacefully work with the school board to find a solution to what she and many others believe to be a major issue regarding the continued health and safety of their children.
The Sabine Parish Journal had the chance to talk with Kresha Matkin to hear her thoughts on why she requested the second meeting, why she felt the need to speak and exactly what she was advocating for, beyond the formal speech to be given. Kresha, having made it clear in previous posts within the “Unmask Our Kids Sabine Parish” facebook group she formed that the goal was to work peacefully and legally with the school board to find a solution, responded with the following comments.
” I requested the special meeting after seeing how many people showed up and didn’t get a seat inside (due to COVID restrictions). They deserved the same opportunity to speak and hear the board’s explanations. It was the only fair thing to do.
I wanted to speak on the subject because my son’s health, mental and physical, was greatly impacted by the mask. I went along with it last year because I believed, like everyone else, it would help protect him. He started developing respiratory issues and infections followed by a chronic cough at night which led to him being so sleepy and tired and STRESSED. He would come home everyday saying how he felt like his insides would start shaking and he would feel like he couldn’t get a good breath through the mask. I honestly thought he was being dramatic at first… then more respiratory infections… more being tired all the time. I noticed he began to gain weight though he didn’t change his diet or exercise regime. The weight kept coming so I took him to see his doctor over it all. They did a blood panel and his triglycerides were Critically high… his cortisol levels from stress had pretty much triggered them. His cholesterol was elevated as well. We are currently waiting, still, to get into a pediatric endocrinologist. So I began to look into these masks…. I began to really research. I knew that only an N95 mask could actually protect you from covid but I had no idea the number of medical studies done on children getting sick from these masks. I started speaking with other parents and found out I was far from alone. So many have had issues from them. So why would we make our children wear something that does not actually protect them from covid but actually does make them sick? When the mandate came out I was just going to file an exemption… but when we found out the government was refusing those, along with forced vaccines not far behind I had to say something. It’s government overreach to tell me that I have to put something on my son that will make him sick meanwhile knowing what they are making him wear will not protect him from getting covid.
So many people think we don’t care about covid or don’t take it seriously. Far from it. If we aren’t wearing N95 masks then they are absolutely nothing more than a security blanket. A placebo for our brains. Yet, [the masks] are actually making kids sick. It blows my mind people would think we don’t care. We care very much about our kids and our right to protect them.”
Kresha Matkin’s goal of wanting to work peacefully with the school board to hear parents out and find a solution that protects children while still allowing parents the ability to make decisions for their children. She has continued to make it clear in the group she both formed and runs, that she wants everyone to approach this topic with the board with kindness and respect while they keep in mind that the board is having to comply with the orders of the governor as well. Matkin stated, “we would love to come up with a legal way to be exempt. We have that right as parents. We want to be able to make choices like this for our kids, including mandated vaccines. If [the government] can force this, what are they going to force next?”
The Sabine Parish School Board will hold a special meeting on August 26th, 2021 at 5:30 p.m. at the Many High School Gym to discuss the Ready to Achieve Health and Safety Operational Plan. Parents who are interested in addressing the Board need to complete a card upon entry.
The views and opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the Sabine Parish Journal. If you have an article or story of interest for publishing consideration by the SPJ, please send it to SPJManyLa@gmail.com.
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