Seven Virginia school districts announced a lawsuit on Monday directed at Governor Glenn Youngkin over his executive order making school mask mandates null and void by giving parents the ultimate choice on whether their children mask up or not.
Education officials claimed the effort was not “politically motivated,” but seeks to answer “fundamental questions about the framework of public education in Virginia.”
Alexandria City, Arlington County, Richmond, Fairfax County, Falls Church, Hampton City, and Prince William County are the school districts in opposition to Youngkin’s order, which reverses a previous mask mandate in the state put in place by the former governor, Ralph Northam.
Youngkin’s office has said they will fight the lawsuit and claimed the school boards are “acting counter to parent’s rights.”
The school districts, which collectively oversee hundreds of schools in the state, vowed to ignore Youngkin’s order before it even took effect. Virginia’s largest school district, Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS), stated that it would continue to “require universal mask wearing” going forward.
The order eventually went into effect on Monday, leading to anti-mandate parents arriving at schools in the state to ensure they do not violate the governor’s new order. The demonstrators also expressed encouragement to those students who defied mask mandates, according to the Daily Wire.
One mother, Megan Rafalski, claimed their fifth grader was being booted from school for not wearing a mask.
“We have a special exception to go to the school we’re at so my son can go to the school with the kids he started with. They’re now telling me his exception is being rescinded for disciplinary reasons. For a one-time incident. He’s never been in trouble before,” she told the outlet.