Newark students still under COVID mask mandate
Newark mom Anna Da Silva on why her daughter is unable to return to school for the first day due to the COVID mask mandate
A Newark, New Jersey mother is fighting back against her 6-year-old daughter's school district's mask mandate after her medical exemption was denied last year and the rule to mask up kept her from attending the first day of the new school year.
"She would get a terrible skin condition – a rash that would get infected – so, obviously, I sought medical help with that," Anna Da Silva told "Fox & Friends First" Tuesday.
Da Silva said the school denied her daughter's medical exemption during the last school year despite having a doctor's approval. She said she thought keeping her daughter in class would still be her best course of action.
Gov. Phil Murphy greets volunteers as he meets with Mayor Ras Baraka in Newark, New Jersey, Nov. 2, 2021. (Reuters/Eduardo Munoz)
"They called me and said ‘masks are essential’… and I complied. She was already in school and I didn't want to take her out in the middle of the school year. I felt that could hurt her…"
As students headed back to class to begin another school year, Da Silva said she is awaiting word from her daughter's school district on her exemption request.
"Today is the first day, and she cannot go, and she will not go because we have not heard from the school whether or not her exemption will be accepted," she said.
REACTION TO 4-YEAR-OLD FORCED TO LEAVE SCHOOL FOR NOT WEARING A MASK: ‘COMPLETELY BAFFLING’
Students wear masks in Isabel Reyes' kindergarten class at Stanley Mosk Elementary School in Winnetka, California, March 11, 2022. (David Crane/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images)
Host Todd Piro asked Da Silva about the conversation she is having with her daughter amid the dustup. She said she is working to be as honest and straightforward as possible while assuring her she will continue to put up a fight.
"I said that mommy's fighting for you" she added. "I said I'll do whatever I can, so you don't have to wear it."
Despite the district's policy, Instagram images show the school's superintendent going maskless while meeting volunteers at an event last week.
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Da Silva called out the hypocrisy, saying that, just before the image was taken, security guards denied her daughter entry to the school's meet-and-greet session.
"Can you imagine how that feels?" she asked.
Da Silva said both the principal and the school's nurse were called to handle the situation and the nurse eventually allowed her daughter to enter, since the decision on her medical exemption remains undetermined.
According to local news outlet Chalkbeat Newark, school officials said the decision to keep the mask mandate in place comes from the city's health department instead of the school district itself.