VA Governor Youngkin's new EO on masks - apply to preschools?

[Anonymous]

Any idea if Youngkin's new Executive Order on masks applies to preschools and day cares? The Executive Order states:

The parents of any child enrolled in a elementary or secondary school or a school based early childcare and educational program may elect for their children not to be subject to any mask mandate in effect at the child’s school or educational program.

I'm not a lawyer and but I would guess that it definitely applies to a "head start" program like FCPS' PreK program. But what about a private, licensed preschool?

[Anonymous]

Nothing would go into effect until Jan 24. Relax.

[Anonymous]

Licensed preschools will be following whatever the county or regional health department advises them to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Licensed preschools will be following whatever the county or regional health department advises them to do.

The daycares are generally licensed by the dept. of social services and there is another portion of the order that relates to other state agencies so its not that clear to me how it will play out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Licensed preschools will be following whatever the county or regional health department advises them to do.

The daycares are generally licensed by the dept. of social services and there is another portion of the order that relates to other state agencies so its not that clear to me how it will play out.

Exactly - which is why I asked. And I realize it doesn't take effect until Jan 24th. I work at a preschool and we require our children to wear masks. I HATE constantly readjusting them on the children - I'm probably more at risk of catching/transmitting Covid because how much I'm touching the children's faces. And i have a feeling the children who can't properly wear the masks are the ones whose parents would gladly ditch them. The ones who never have a problem with them are most likely masked all the time out in public. I'm just a lowly worker bee, so its way above my pay level - just thought I'd ask.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Licensed preschools will be following whatever the county or regional health department advises them to do.

The daycares are generally licensed by the dept. of social services and there is another portion of the order that relates to other state agencies so its not that clear to me how it will play out.

Preschools and daycares used to be licensed under Dept. of Social Services. The Commonwealth made a switch in July 2021 and now they are licensed under the VA Dept. of Education.

I also work in the field and it's still unclear, but appears that it only pertains to PreK programs housed in public schools. We're not 100% sure though and have reached out to our licensing specialist for guidance. We're keeping our mask mandate in place for now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Licensed preschools will be following whatever the county or regional health department advises them to do.

The daycares are generally licensed by the dept. of social services and there is another portion of the order that relates to other state agencies so its not that clear to me how it will play out.

Preschools and daycares used to be licensed under Dept. of Social Services. The Commonwealth made a switch in July 2021 and now they are licensed under the VA Dept. of Education.

I also work in the field and it's still unclear, but appears that it only pertains to PreK programs housed in public schools. We're not 100% sure though and have reached out to our licensing specialist for guidance. We're keeping our mask mandate in place for now.

PP here and thank you, I stand corrected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Licensed preschools will be following whatever the county or regional health department advises them to do.

The daycares are generally licensed by the dept. of social services and there is another portion of the order that relates to other state agencies so its not that clear to me how it will play out.

Preschools and daycares used to be licensed under Dept. of Social Services. The Commonwealth made a switch in July 2021 and now they are licensed under the VA Dept. of Education.

I also work in the field and it's still unclear, but appears that it only pertains to PreK programs housed in public schools. We're not 100% sure though and have reached out to our licensing specialist for guidance. We're keeping our mask mandate in place for now.

It was a poorly-drafted EO that has a lot of private schools asking the same question.