A few families in Loudoun County are suing the school board over their decision to continue to require masks within public schools. The parents believe that the district is defying the executive order from Governor Glenn Youngkin that says masks should be optional in Virginia public schools.
Now Youngkin, Attorney General Jason Miyares, and state Superintendent Jillian Balow are joining in on the lawsuit with the parents against the school board. The attorney general, governor, and superintendent of public instruction are seeking a motion for a temporary injunction to stop the school board from implementing the mask policy.
“When the pandemic started, Governor Northam used his emergency powers to close down places of worship, private businesses, and schools, and impose a universal mask mandate,” Miyares said in a statement. “Nearly two years later, Governor Youngkin is using those same emergency powers to adapt to our current phase in the same pandemic, by giving parents the ability to opt out of a school mask mandate.”
The executive order making masks optional is also facing a slate of lawsuits from parents and school boards across the commonwealth. That matter is being handled in the Supreme Court of Virginia with no specific timeline on when they will make a decision. The parents and school boards suing Youngkin believe that his executive order goes against a newly enacted law that says schools should follow CDC guidelines with Covid-19 mitigation efforts.
The lawsuit that the Loudoun parents filed against the school board was in federal circuit courts. “The School Board’s actions have directly interfered with the right of each parent here,” the lawsuit reads.
According to reports, Loudoun County suspended 29 students on Wednesday for not wearing masks in school.
Brandon Michon, a Republican congressional candidate who is challenging Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D) in VA-10 commented on the student suspensions. “We as parents will stand up for our children. Suspending students for following EO #2 from the [governor] is completely idiotic. I would not be surprised if they put ‘murderer’ on their record to make an example of the children, not ‘Did not wear a mask.’”
Gov. Youngkin’s office referred Virginia Scope to the statement from Miyares when asked for comment.
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The level of arrogance that this school board and Superintendent has is breathtaking. They are not above the law and what they are doing to the school kids is CRIMINAL! The children belong to the parents, not the state and especially not the school district. As an LCPS employee, if you are too afraid to be near a child who has near zero risk of having complications from a disease that 99.6 percent of adults – even unhealthy ones, survive, and who do not pass it to adults, then you really should not even be allowed around children as your mental health is more risky than any virus. If as an LCPS employee you are at a heightened risk, then you should take a leave of absence and work on getting yourself healthy, as the research shows in dozens of studies that it is the UNHEALTHY, with 4 or more co-morbidities, that are the ones dying from the virus. There are laws in the Virginia State Constitution AND the US Constitution that protect against tyrants like LCPS. It is time they are put in their place!
The level of arrogance that this school board and Superintendent has is breathtaking. They are not above the law and what they are doing to the school kids is CRIMINAL! The children belong to the parents, not the state and especially not the school district. As an LCPS employee, if you are too afraid to be near a child who has near zero risk of having complications from a disease that 99.6 percent of adults – even unhealthy ones, survive, and who do not pass it to adults, then you really should not even be allowed around children as your mental health is more risky than any virus. If as an LCPS employee you are at a heightened risk, then you should take a leave of absence and work on getting yourself healthy, as the research shows in dozens of studies that it is the UNHEALTHY, with 4 or more co-morbidities, that are the ones dying from the virus. There are laws in the Virginia State Constitution AND the US Constitution that protect against tyrants like LCPS. It is time they are put in their place!