Some Virginia schools still requiring students to mask up despite new optional mask policy
Chief Washington correspondent Mike Emanuel reports the latest on the new law and when it takes effect from Washington D.C.
Virginia schools have until March 1 to comply with a new "mask optional" law, but parents frustrated by two full years of COVID-19 restrictions are demanding swifter action.
"You don't make the choice of when my freedom starts. My God, given freedom starts now. So he will not be at school with a mask on. And if he gets kicked out any day, they could kick him out every day for all I care," Naisha T. Chinnery told Fox News. Her 5th-grade son was kicked off his Arlington basketball team for not masking. Chinnery notes her son’s school gymnasium is poorly ventilated, and wearing a mask is potentially risking his health.
"It's like a reward system. And then you all are sending these educators to be dictators instead of being educated. It's like they're the mask police. My son called me a couple of weeks ago crying because he was in a room by himself and he couldn't breathe in the classroom," Chinnery said.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin's mask law is set to take effect March 1. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images, File)
It isn’t just in Arlington schools.
Neighboring Fairfax County Public Schools was one of seven districts suing Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, after his January executive order made masks in school optional.
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The Virginia legislature has since passed a bill giving parents the choice, which Youngkin signed into law Feb. 16.
"We are aware of the passage of SB739 and we are reviewing what this means for FCPS, as local health metrics continue to improve," Fairfax County Public Schools spokeswoman Julie Moult said.
"Most of the school districts out here in Virginia are complying with the law as they should, but Fairfax County is just being recalcitrant. And, you know, I think attorney general has made it quite clear that schools have to follow this law. And if they don't, they're going to be hearing from his office," Ian Prior, the executive director of Fight For Schools, told Fox News in a televised interview.
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Some Democrats have started to recognize their constituents have had enough of COVID restrictions.
"I'm all in favor of parents having more say because, you know, as well as I do agree that the more parents are involved in their children's education, the better the kids do," Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa., told Fox News.
"Democrats are now figuring out that what is happening is the formation of potentially the biggest single issue voter bloc in American history, and that's parents. And it doesn't matter if they're Democrats, it doesn't matter if they're Republican, Black, White, Asian, male or female, Christian, Jewish, Muslim. It's going to transcend all of that and their votes are going to be up for grabs," Prior said.
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A number of Virginia school districts fighting the governor on this issue have suspended children who were not wearing masks. Many of these young students have paid a heavy price trapped in a battle between their governor and their school superintendent.
"Why would you pull my child aside without having a conversation with me as his mother or his father and make him feel isolated and discriminated against? And the principal and her staff continue, they continue to perpetuate these tactics, and I'm tired. I'm sick and I'm tired and I'm coming in. I don't care what March looks like. My freedom and his freedom starts now," Chinnery said.
