CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. — As decisions on legal challenges to Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin's executive order making masking in Virginia schools optional remain in limbo, Virginia school districts are settling into altered masking policies those same decisions have the potential to upend.
A lawsuit filed by a group of Chesapeake parents against Governor Youngkin over his executive order #2 has not yet been heard by the Supreme Court of Virginia.
“No word yet and I don’t know when to expect anything, but we hope to hear something this week,” the attorney representing the parents wrote in an email to CBS 6.
A separate lawsuit, filed by seven Virginia school districts, including Richmond Public Schools, is scheduled to go before an Arlington Circuit Court judge for the first time Wednesday afternoon.
The school districts argue the governor's order violated their rights under the Virginia Constitution to decide health and safety policy within local schools.
“The governor and attorney general are in coordination and are committed to aggressively defending parents’ fundamental right to make decisions with regard to their child’s upbringing, education and care, as the legal process plays out,” a spokesperson for the governor said when the lawsuit was filed.
Meanwhile, a group representing some Chesterfield school teachers and families rallied at Meadowbrook High School on Monday.
They are opposed to the Chesterfield School Board’s decision to make masking optional in schools. The vote passed 3-2.
“Freedom is a potent rallying cry, always has been. But the fact of the matter is we have common protections in place all the time in society. I think almost everybody stops at a stoplight because we agree that it’s better if we all stop at stoplights. When we don’t, bad things happen,” McLin Choate, a retired Chesterfield teacher who is working with the group, said. “It’s the old adage that the right to swing my fist ends at your nose.”
Choate and those rallying Monday want the school board to revisit the masking policy, especially if the lawsuits break in favor of the parents and school districts. In the interim, they said the school district needed to do a better job of providing quality masks, testing, and clear protocols when outbreaks occur.
“How are we going to deal with this when absences, actually as they already have been, become crippling to the system?” Choate said.
The Chesterfield Education Association sent a press release Monday that said members approved a vote of “no confidence” in the Chesterfield School Board over the decision.
In a statement from a Chesterfield Schools spokesperson, the school leaders said they are working to get better fitting, quality masks for younger students.
“The CCPS facilities team distributed thousands of KN95 masks to schools over the past few weeks. Initially, these masks were available to staff upon request, and then the opportunity to request a KN95 mask was quickly made available to any student as well. It has been noted that these masks may not be a well-fitting mask for some elementary students. As such, Facilities is working to get smaller-sized masks,” the statement said.
“In the meantime, staff has been in contact with the health department, who referenced the CDC mask recommendations. It is most important that a student is wearing a well-fitting mask and chooses a mask type that they are comfortable with and will more likely wear consistently,” it continued.
Monday also marked the first day of the mask optional policy in Hanover County.
“I’m glad that they all get to take their masks off, we can see their faces again,” Hanover parent Kathy Rawls said. “I think it’s giving people a false sense of security. But if that makes people feel better, that’s their choice, but I don’t feel like it should be forced on my child.”
Rawls said she hoped there would be an easing of tensions over the contentious issue, especially within school buildings.
“I hope that teachers will be respectful of those who don’t want to wear a mask,” she said.
Choate, the retired teacher, said he thinks it would be incredibly “disheartening” to still be teaching at public schools this year.
“Last year was my last year teaching, and last year was the most horrendous thing I’d seen in 34 years of teaching,” he said. “[In 2022] it’s all the challenges of last year coupled with the attacks and distrust from the public.”
