Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s executive order lifting the statewide school mask mandate took effect Monday and was met with a lawsuit by seven school districts.
Seven Virginia school districts have filed a joint lawsuit on Monday against Gov Youngkin’s executive order lifting the statewide school mask mandate.
The Schools Boards of Alexandria City, Arlington County, City of Richmond, Fairfax County, Falls Church City, Hampton City, and Prince William County, filed a lawsuit to challenge the constitutionality of Executive Order 2 issued by the governor on January 15, 2022.
The legal action, representing over 350,000 students across the state, defends the right of school boards to enact policy at the local level, including policies that protect the health and wellbeing of all students and staff, the school boards stated in a statement.
The lawsuit filed Monday argues the state constitution gives local school boards the authority to run their districts. It also cites a state law that requires school systems to follow federal health guidelines, which include recommendations for universal masking.
“With COVID-19 transmission rates high, our hospitals at crisis level, and the continued recommendation of health experts to retain universal mask-wearing for the time being, this is simply not the time to remove this critical component of layered health and safety mitigation strategies,” the school boards said.
“At issue is whether locally-elected school boards will maintain the exclusive authority and responsibility conferred upon them by Article VIII, Section 7 of the Constitution of Virginia to supervise the public schools in their respective school divisions or whether the Governor can unilaterally infringe upon that authority through an executive order,” the lawsuit states.
Governor Youngkin issued an executive order on his first day in office, Jan. 15, declaring that starting Jan. 24, families could opt out of mask mandates at K-12 schools.
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