The role of positron polarization for the inital $250$ GeV stage of the International Linear Collider

The International Linear Collider is now proposed with a staged machine design, with the first stage at $sqrt{s}=$~250 GeV and an integrated luminosity goal of 2~ab$^{-1}$. One of the questions for the machine design is the importance of positron polarization. In this report, we review the impact of positron polarization on the physics goals of the $250$ GeV stage of the ILC and demonstrate that positron polarization has distinct advantages.