Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, his Attorney General Jason Mirares, and the state’s Superintendent of Public Instruction Jilian Balow asked a court on Wednesday to allow them to join the parents suing the Loudoun County School Board.
The parents complain that their students attending Loudoun County public schools are still required to wear masks all day (including during sporting events). This, despite Youngkin’s executive order freeing them to allow their students to go maskless if they so desire.
On his first day as governor, Youngkin signed nine executive orders, one of them directly repealing an order issued by his predecessor, Governor Ralph Northam, commanding all students be masked as part of the protocol adopted by the state to mitigate transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
As Youngkin explained:
Recent government orders requiring virtually every child in Virginia wear masks virtually every moment they are in school have proven ineffective and impractical. They have also failed to keep up with rapidly changing scientific information….
[While a] universal masking requirement in schools has provided inconsistent health benefits, the universal requirement has also inflicted notable harm and proven to be impracticable. Masks inhibit the ability of children to communicate, delay language development, and impede the growth of emotional and social skills.
He reminded parents that they have the right, under the Code of Virginia, “to make decisions concerning the upbringing, education, and care of the parent’s child,” adding:
Permitting parents to make decisions on where and when to wear masks permits the Commonwealth’s parents to make the best decision for the circumstances confronting each child. Parents can assess the risks and benefits facing their child, consult their medical providers, and make the best decision for their children based on the most up to date health information available.
He then declared that the previous mask mandate was void, and that parents “may [now] elect for their children not to be subject to any mask mandate in effect at the child’s school or educational program.”
He further declared that school boards may not inflict special demands on parents requiring them to justify their decision not to have their children masked.
This so rankled the Loudoun County School Board that they decided, despite the evidence and the new order from Youngkin, to declare that any student violating the district’s commands for all-day, full-time masking would be suspended.
Here is an excerpt from the letter sent to parents from the Loudoun County School District:
Students who willfully continue to refuse to [wear a mask] as required by Loudoun County Public Schools will be suspended from school [and that] a student who is suspended because of non-compliance with [the mask mandate] may return to school only when they agree to [wear a mask] throughout the entire school day and at all indoor school-related events.
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares explained why he supports the lawsuit filed by the parents:
Parents know what is best for their children and should be able to decide if their children wear a mask for eight hours a day. For this reason, the Attorney General, Governor, and Superintendent of Public Instruction are seeking a motion for temporary injunction and a motion for temporary restraining order.
What’s galling most to the tyrants running the public schools in Loudoun County, Virginia, is the whole idea that parents — supposedly uneducated and untrained in how children ought to be taught — now have the power to decide for themselves what’s best for their children.
The Circuit Court for Loudoun County will decide the matter.
Related article:
Youngkin’s Day One Orders Include CRT Ban, School Mask Mandate Repeal
