To mask or not: Youngkin order places schools in a quandary


Schools are in a quandary over an executive order signed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin that allows parents to opt-out of local school mask mandates.

On Saturday, shortly after he was sworn in Virginia’s 74th governor, Youngkin signed 11  executive orders, including Executive Order #2, which takes direct aim at the requirements that students wear face coverings while at school, riding the bus or at school-related activities.

Executive Order #2 calls school mask mandates “ineffective and impractical” and orders that masks be made optional for students starting Monday, Jan. 24.

The directive runs counter to CDC guidance that masks be worn in classrooms to stop the spread of the coronavirus and comes as the highly infectious omicron variant has sent disease caseloads soaring.

Mecklenburg County Superintendent of Schools Paul Nichols said this week that he hopes to see further guidance on the issue before Youngkin’s order takes effect next week. Without this guidance, Nichols said MCPS’s next moves are uncertain.

He said he plans to discuss the matter with the School Board at their next meeting later this month. (The regularly scheduled monthly meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 18 was postponed this week). Nichols said he could not speculate on the position the nine-member school board would take if asked to establish a division-wide policy that differs from the current masking rules.

“We have until Jan. 24 before the order is set to take effect,” Nichols said.

A growing number of school divisions have vowed to challenge Youngkin’s directive in court, based on the passage of a state law last year that instructs schools to follow the covid-related guidance handed down by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In 2021 the Virginia General Assembly enacted Senate Bill 1303, which then-Gov. Ralph Northam signed into law on March 31. That law directs the schools to follow CDC guidance to determine when to impose a universal mask mandate.

Currently Mecklenburg County is at CDC risk level red, where mask-wearing is deemed necessary to protect public health.

Youngkin’s five-part Executive Order #2 calls upon the State Health Commissioner to terminate the existing public health emergency that allows Virginia to mandate mask wearing, while also giving parents of elementary and secondary students the right to elect for their child not to be subject to a mask mandate, without providing a reason for the opt-out.

Executive Order #2 includes language that overrides any locally mandated mask-related school policy. It also calls on each school district to “marshal any resources available to improve inspection, testing, maintenance, repair, replacement and upgrades of equipment to improve the indoor air quality in school facilities, including mechanical and non-mechanical heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, filtering, purification, fans, control systems and window and door repair.” It does not provide the schools with any funding or other support to implement these measures.

As of Monday, the CDC reported 290 positive COVID-19 cases in Mecklenburg County over the past seven days, and a test positivity rate of 39.19 percent. Because of the county’s high transmission rate, the CDC guidance calls for “(e)veryone in Mecklenburg County, Virginia [to] wear a mask in public, indoor settings.” There is no mask-wearing exception for students under the CDC guidance.

The CDC also calls for schools and other public places to implement a “layered approach” to stem the spread of the virus. That approach includes vaccinations, mask wearing — especially among the unvaccinated — social distancing, testing and contract tracing, improved ventilation, and other steps to combat the virus.

Nichols says he is well aware of the competing opinions of medical professionals, educators, speech pathologists and others who write about the myriad of problems that can occur if students, especially younger ones, are forced to wear face coverings for extended periods of time. More than one parent has shared data in public remarks during school board meetings in the past year.

Nichols said he’s also aware of competing studies that find negligible impact from mask wearing.

Even with the mask mandate in place, Mecklenburg County Public Schools has had to quarantine students, shut down entire classes and on Friday, shutter an entire school — Clarksville Elementary — due to COVID-19.

Nichols said most of the COVID-19 cases occurring among students and school personnel were brought into the classroom from exposure outside of school.

An analysis by the CDC of studies from around the world done prior to the discovery of the highly contagious omicron variant confirms the benefit of universal masking. Separate studies were conducted in a unified hospital system, a German city, two U.S. states, a conglomerate of 15 U.S. states and Washington, D.C., as well as in both Canada and the U.S. nationally. The CDC concluded, “Each analysis demonstrated that, following directives from organizational and political leadership for universal masking, new infections fell significantly.”

Two of these studies and an additional analysis of data from 200 countries including the U.S. also point to reduced mortality from mask wearing. A similar, 10-site study showed reductions in hospitalization growth rates with mask mandates in place.

Beyond the issue of masking, Nichols said he is concerned about the broader implications of the Governor’s Executive Order and its potential impact on future school policies.

In crafting the language of his Executive Order #2, Youngkin relied on a 2013 law — House Bill 1642 — that gives parents the fundamental right to direct the upbringing, education, and care of their children. The language of the order provides that “parents can assess the risks and benefits facing their child, consult their medical providers, and make the best decision for their children based on the most up to date health information available.”

If the governor is correct in his understanding of the law, Nichols said the result could be that parents will rely on that same law to ignore other school policies which they don’t like. The ensuing chaos would make it difficult for schools to maintain order, Nichols suggested.

Lunenburg Del. Tommy Wright, writing in his weekly constituent column, chided Democrats for their opposition to Executive Order #2. “Republicans think parents should choose whether their children wear masks in schools or not,” wrote Wright. “The Governor’s executive order [# 2] removes any state-level impediment to that authority. Democrats who say the order has no effect are not only misreading the law, but they are also willfully doing so.”

Prominent Democrats — among them, Sen. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) and Del. Sally Hudson (D-Charlottesville) — say Youngkin lacks the legal authority to override a duly enacted state law directing school divisions to heed CDC guidance on public health, including mask-wearing.

For now, as county students head back to school for in-person classroom instruction on Wednesday, Nichols said the requirement to wear masks remains the rule.

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