More than half of Virginia school districts are defying Youngkin's mask-optional order
About a week after announcing his executive order making masks optional in schools throughout Virginia, Gov. Glenn Youngkin, R, said on a radio show that school districts statewide had rushed to comply.
"The reality is it's about 25 out of our 130 school systems across Virginia who aren't recognizing the rights of parents today," Youngkin told conservative host John Fredericks on Monday, adding that the noncompliant districts were prioritizing "bureaucrats and politicians over the rights of parents."
Youngkin lies, both about the number of school systems and about denying that the noncompliant districts are really prioritizing public health.
But a Washington Post analysis shows that the majority of Virginia public school districts - enrolling more than two-thirds of the state's students - have opted to disobey Youngkin's mask-optional order. As of Wednesday, two days after the order was supposed to take effect, 69 districts, or 53%, are still requiring masks for all students inside schools. Cumulatively, those districts enroll 846,483 students, or about 67% of the state's public school student population....
The widespread defiance suggests Youngkin will have enormous difficulty in enforcing his mask-optional mandate, which is already the subject of two lawsuits: one from parents in Chesapeake, and one from seven school boards that oversee some of the state's largest, most prominent school districts. A hearing on the second suit is scheduled for next week.
Good.
Youngkin has said he will use every tool at his disposal to carry out his order as those cases wind through the court system, and his spokeswoman did not rule out disciplining disobedient districts by yanking their state funding.
It also raises serious doubts about the viability of Youngkin's intense focus - both on the campaign trail and in his first days as governor - on the nation's education culture wars, including his push for greater parental control over every aspect of education, from masking to which books appear on library shelves to the content of curriculums.
"These findings lay bare the absurdity of the governor's claims that he is listening to the parents," said Mark Rozell, the dean of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. "Most disagree with what he is doing. He seems to be listening primarily to the parents of a particular political stripe - the ones who made the most noise in the heat of a political campaign but in no way represent a consensus among parents of public school children."
Asked about The Post's analysis, Youngkin said in a statement, "If localities want to have a mask mandate, they absolutely are able to. However, parents have a right to opt out. They know what is best for their kids."
Translation: "parents have a right to" endanger their own kids, themselves and others.
... Youngkin's directive took effect for districts across Virginia on Monday. Even in the suburban D.C. localities where officials promised to keep the mask mandate in place and sued to protect their authority to do so, initial reporting suggested the day went smoothly for students and teachers. In Loudoun County, a politically divided and wealthy suburb, small groups of parents showed up to two campuses with maskless children Monday and stayed outside picketing when administrators isolated those students.
Deport them.
... Still, districts in Republican-leaning, Youngkin-voting localities also make up the majority - 57% - of districts that voted to keep requiring masks in schools. This suggests that Republican school systems and parents may be less willing to follow Youngkin's lead on masking than the governor might have expected, and it confirms previous polling statewide that indicated that most Virginians support masks as a common-sense pandemic safety measure.
... Nationally, a Monmouth University poll from November found that 61% of Americans said face masks should be worn by students, teachers and staff in schools in their state, while 34% opposed the idea....
Both suits make essentially the same argument: that Youngkin's mask-optional order violates the Virginia constitution because it usurps school districts' constitutionally granted power to oversee school systems. The lawsuits also contend that Youngkin's order goes against a state law, passed in summer 2021, that requires school districts to comply with federal health guidance "to the maximum extent practicable." Current guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend masking inside schools for everyone over the age of 2, regardless of vaccination status....
ignore failure)
, Useless.
