Photo by Kelly Sikkema
In Virginia, seven school boards are taking legal action to try and keep their mask mandates in its current position. The suit was disclosed on the same day that Governor Glenn Youngkin’s executive order on school masking was taken into effect.
Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, Falls Church, and Prince William in Northern Virginia, also counting Richmond and Hampton, are some of the school districts included in the implementation.
Youngkin was elected on a promise to allow parents in his district the option of whether or not their children should wear masks at school, and he succeeded with this first-day executive order, authorizing parents and guardians to pull out from mask mandates in school districts.
The school boards are claiming that the governor does not have control in imposing this kind of ordinance, hence transgressing Virginia’s constitution and law. They believe it is causing “direct, immediate, and irremediable” harm as presented by their legal action.
“Both the constitution and state law, we believe, supersede the governor’s executive order,” Prince William County School Board Chairman-At-Large Babur Lateef said in an interview.
“The goal is not really to make a political statement here, it’s more for the continued operation of the school system with the least amount of disruption, with the highest priority being in-person learning.”
Harms potentially constituted by the mask-optional mandate of the governor, as per the legal action, includes “the increased likelihood of severe illness or death by a student, school staff member, or member of either one’s families,” and also “the loss of in-person learning by students” who are obliged to quarantine following exposure to unmasked students, or who are forced to stay home because of staffing scarcity.
The week before, a flock of 13 parents filed suit against the governor. The lawsuit put forth exactly what those from seven school boards did; thus, it’s not surprising that this isn’t the first complaint about Younkin’s masking mandate.
