If the county isn't allowed to placed a mask mandate in the classroom

[Anonymous]

Instead of fighting this mask or no mask battle, why don't we remember the main problem in this pandemic? The unvaccinated. Can we focus our energy there?

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2022/01/politicians-against-unvaccinated-djokovic/621242/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From newly elected Republican VA Delegate and attorney Tim Anderson:

I have received many requests from you regarding how Gov Youngkin’s order applies to school masking requirements.

For private schools - the answer is easy. Private schools were ordered by the former health commissioner to require masking in schools. That order is rescinded. Private schools should rely on the parental choice option and create a policy allowing mask wearing to be optional.

Public schools: This is more complicated. Last year a law was passed (SB1303) that requires public schools (only public - not private) to be open for in-person learning 5 days weeks while requires “ii) provide such in-person instruction in a manner in which it adheres, to the maximum extent practicable, to any currently applicable mitigation strategies for early childhood care and education programs and elementary and secondary schools to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 that have been provided by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

The CDC’s current recommendation related to masking is: CDC recommends universal indoor masking by all* students (ages 2 years and older), staff, teachers, and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status.

SB1303 expires August 1, 2022 - so after that day - parents without doubt have the option of sending children to schools without a mask. Between now and then - I think elected school boards are going to have to make decisions - and then parents on the other side of that decision will have to bring a court fight. That will take time - Courts do not move fast. So with the 5 months we have left of school this year - I would be surprised for the Supreme Court to provide binding guidance that would apply statewide.

Final answer: For this current year: I think public school boards will decide this answer - and there won’t be enough time to get the fights through the courts.

For next public school year: Parents will decide.

Order 2: https://bit.ly/3FstazH
SB1303: https://bit.ly/3ftkApB
CDC: https://bit.ly/3KeenMp

Thanks for posting. That’s about what I figured. The public schools in this area will be in the mask battle for the rest of this school year and will try to run out the clock on it. I don’t know if the new administration or the public schools will want a protracted legal battle, however. I think it could leave both sides looking pretty foolish and wasteful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Regardless of mask or no mask, I think the bigger issue is that the Governor through his EO has basically given permission for families and students to say, “I don’t have to listen to you. I don’t have to follow your rules”. Teachers think student behaviors are difficult now? Just wait.

Yes, I don’t give a flip about masks or no masks, this is just another example of how teaching has become harder because of family attitudes towards education. I told my husband tonight that if I feel this sense of dread as a teacher, my kids teachers probably feel the same way. I am kicking myself for not convincing him earlier to enroll our kids in private next year. This is the beginning of a really crappy decade for public education in Fairfax County. All manufactured by public attitudes towards teachers.

The School Board has treated our pyramid like crap for a decade and consistently short-changed us while lavishing money on buildings and programs elsewhere, so this is nowhere near the beginning of a really crappy decade for us. You’re just getting a taste now of what some of us have been experiencing with FCPS for years. Too bad the School Board didn’t pay attention when they had the chance; now parents are just exhausted and running out of sympathy for anyone associated with FCPS in any capacity.

Which school pyramid is this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some say with the airborne nature of omicron, most masks are just decorative. And most kids aren’t really affected by Covid including omicron in a way that warrants masking and the like. Time to move on. People who need protecting, have vaccines now. Kids don’t need masks.

“Some say” LOL

Exactly. Who is “some”? Steve Bannon?

CNN medical analyst?

"Cloth masks are little more than facial decorations. There's no place for them in light of Omicron,"

https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/24/health/cloth-mask-omicron-variant-wellness/index.html

The doc you quote (Wen, at GWU) very clearly advocates for wearing a better mask—not ditching masks altogether because some types are not effective against omicron. She also has said many times that everyone—including kids—DO need to be wearing masks. Your original post was framed as an argument to do away with masking but the stance of expert you cite to back up your post couldn’t be further from that.

Have you seen the masks kids wear at school and how they wear them? I’d agree that a class room full of kids wearing N95s would be ideal but that just isn’t the case and won’t be. But let’s be realistic on what we are protecting kids from with these masks i these ideal conditions… a cold equivalent in most cases, while vaccines are available to kids and parents alike to protect themselves. Now kids will be strapped up all day in n95s for something people can protect themselves against and rarely even affects kids?

Yes. Because kids themselves can get pretty sick and even die. Even if rare, I’m all for taking easy steps to avoid that, no matter how rare. Also, unmasking kids in schools means that all of those unmasked kids who pick up the virus will then take it home and everywhere else they go, contributing to the spread to susceptible/vulnerable people

It’s weird we weren’t doing this for the flu which killed 3-6 children every year in VA. So far since Covid started the past two years, there have been 17 pediatric deaths in VA. It’s tragic, but not worth flipping school upside down. Plus why ignore the fact that the vaccine is available to all these children? A lot has changed since March 2020. Time to adapt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From newly elected Republican VA Delegate and attorney Tim Anderson:

I have received many requests from you regarding how Gov Youngkin’s order applies to school masking requirements.

For private schools - the answer is easy. Private schools were ordered by the former health commissioner to require masking in schools. That order is rescinded. Private schools should rely on the parental choice option and create a policy allowing mask wearing to be optional.

Public schools: This is more complicated. Last year a law was passed (SB1303) that requires public schools (only public - not private) to be open for in-person learning 5 days weeks while requires “ii) provide such in-person instruction in a manner in which it adheres, to the maximum extent practicable, to any currently applicable mitigation strategies for early childhood care and education programs and elementary and secondary schools to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 that have been provided by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

The CDC’s current recommendation related to masking is: CDC recommends universal indoor masking by all* students (ages 2 years and older), staff, teachers, and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status.

SB1303 expires August 1, 2022 - so after that day - parents without doubt have the option of sending children to schools without a mask. Between now and then - I think elected school boards are going to have to make decisions - and then parents on the other side of that decision will have to bring a court fight. That will take time - Courts do not move fast. So with the 5 months we have left of school this year - I would be surprised for the Supreme Court to provide binding guidance that would apply statewide.

Final answer: For this current year: I think public school boards will decide this answer - and there won’t be enough time to get the fights through the courts.

For next public school year: Parents will decide.

Order 2: https://bit.ly/3FstazH
SB1303: https://bit.ly/3ftkApB
CDC: https://bit.ly/3KeenMp

That's very interesting. From where did you copy this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some say with the airborne nature of omicron, most masks are just decorative. And most kids aren’t really affected by Covid including omicron in a way that warrants masking and the like. Time to move on. People who need protecting, have vaccines now. Kids don’t need masks.

“Some say” LOL

Exactly. Who is “some”? Steve Bannon?

CNN medical analyst?

"Cloth masks are little more than facial decorations. There's no place for them in light of Omicron,"

https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/24/health/cloth-mask-omicron-variant-wellness/index.html

The doc you quote (Wen, at GWU) very clearly advocates for wearing a better mask—not ditching masks altogether because some types are not effective against omicron. She also has said many times that everyone—including kids—DO need to be wearing masks. Your original post was framed as an argument to do away with masking but the stance of expert you cite to back up your post couldn’t be further from that.

Have you seen the masks kids wear at school and how they wear them? I’d agree that a class room full of kids wearing N95s would be ideal but that just isn’t the case and won’t be. But let’s be realistic on what we are protecting kids from with these masks i these ideal conditions… a cold equivalent in most cases, while vaccines are available to kids and parents alike to protect themselves. Now kids will be strapped up all day in n95s for something people can protect themselves against and rarely even affects kids?

Yes. Because kids themselves can get pretty sick and even die. Even if rare, I’m all for taking easy steps to avoid that, no matter how rare. Also, unmasking kids in schools means that all of those unmasked kids who pick up the virus will then take it home and everywhere else they go, contributing to the spread to susceptible/vulnerable people

It’s weird we weren’t doing this for the flu which killed 3-6 children every year in VA. So far since Covid started the past two years, there have been 17 pediatric deaths in VA. It’s tragic, but not worth flipping school upside down. Plus why ignore the fact that the vaccine is available to all these children? A lot has changed since March 2020. Time to adapt.

Never mind. 12 pediatric deaths in VA. Roughly the same rate of our flu deaths in VA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From newly elected Republican VA Delegate and attorney Tim Anderson:

I have received many requests from you regarding how Gov Youngkin’s order applies to school masking requirements.

For private schools - the answer is easy. Private schools were ordered by the former health commissioner to require masking in schools. That order is rescinded. Private schools should rely on the parental choice option and create a policy allowing mask wearing to be optional.

Public schools: This is more complicated. Last year a law was passed (SB1303) that requires public schools (only public - not private) to be open for in-person learning 5 days weeks while requires “ii) provide such in-person instruction in a manner in which it adheres, to the maximum extent practicable, to any currently applicable mitigation strategies for early childhood care and education programs and elementary and secondary schools to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 that have been provided by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

The CDC’s current recommendation related to masking is: CDC recommends universal indoor masking by all* students (ages 2 years and older), staff, teachers, and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status.

SB1303 expires August 1, 2022 - so after that day - parents without doubt have the option of sending children to schools without a mask. Between now and then - I think elected school boards are going to have to make decisions - and then parents on the other side of that decision will have to bring a court fight. That will take time - Courts do not move fast. So with the 5 months we have left of school this year - I would be surprised for the Supreme Court to provide binding guidance that would apply statewide.

Final answer: For this current year: I think public school boards will decide this answer - and there won’t be enough time to get the fights through the courts.

For next public school year: Parents will decide.

Order 2: https://bit.ly/3FstazH
SB1303: https://bit.ly/3ftkApB
CDC: https://bit.ly/3KeenMp

Yup. The EO violates an existing law. No dice, Youngkin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From newly elected Republican VA Delegate and attorney Tim Anderson:

I have received many requests from you regarding how Gov Youngkin’s order applies to school masking requirements.

For private schools - the answer is easy. Private schools were ordered by the former health commissioner to require masking in schools. That order is rescinded. Private schools should rely on the parental choice option and create a policy allowing mask wearing to be optional.

Public schools: This is more complicated. Last year a law was passed (SB1303) that requires public schools (only public - not private) to be open for in-person learning 5 days weeks while requires “ii) provide such in-person instruction in a manner in which it adheres, to the maximum extent practicable, to any currently applicable mitigation strategies for early childhood care and education programs and elementary and secondary schools to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 that have been provided by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

The CDC’s current recommendation related to masking is: CDC recommends universal indoor masking by all* students (ages 2 years and older), staff, teachers, and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status.

SB1303 expires August 1, 2022 - so after that day - parents without doubt have the option of sending children to schools without a mask. Between now and then - I think elected school boards are going to have to make decisions - and then parents on the other side of that decision will have to bring a court fight. That will take time - Courts do not move fast. So with the 5 months we have left of school this year - I would be surprised for the Supreme Court to provide binding guidance that would apply statewide.

Final answer: For this current year: I think public school boards will decide this answer - and there won’t be enough time to get the fights through the courts.

For next public school year: Parents will decide.

Order 2: https://bit.ly/3FstazH
SB1303: https://bit.ly/3ftkApB
CDC: https://bit.ly/3KeenMp

That's very interesting. From where did you copy this?

His own FB page. And he’s very pro-Youngkin and all the other Youngkin garbage, so he has no ax to grind here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From newly elected Republican VA Delegate and attorney Tim Anderson:

I have received many requests from you regarding how Gov Youngkin’s order applies to school masking requirements.

For private schools - the answer is easy. Private schools were ordered by the former health commissioner to require masking in schools. That order is rescinded. Private schools should rely on the parental choice option and create a policy allowing mask wearing to be optional.

Public schools: This is more complicated. Last year a law was passed (SB1303) that requires public schools (only public - not private) to be open for in-person learning 5 days weeks while requires “ii) provide such in-person instruction in a manner in which it adheres, to the maximum extent practicable, to any currently applicable mitigation strategies for early childhood care and education programs and elementary and secondary schools to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 that have been provided by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

The CDC’s current recommendation related to masking is: CDC recommends universal indoor masking by all* students (ages 2 years and older), staff, teachers, and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status.

SB1303 expires August 1, 2022 - so after that day - parents without doubt have the option of sending children to schools without a mask. Between now and then - I think elected school boards are going to have to make decisions - and then parents on the other side of that decision will have to bring a court fight. That will take time - Courts do not move fast. So with the 5 months we have left of school this year - I would be surprised for the Supreme Court to provide binding guidance that would apply statewide.

Final answer: For this current year: I think public school boards will decide this answer - and there won’t be enough time to get the fights through the courts.

For next public school year: Parents will decide.

Order 2: https://bit.ly/3FstazH
SB1303: https://bit.ly/3ftkApB
CDC: https://bit.ly/3KeenMp

That's very interesting. From where did you copy this?

His own FB page. And he’s very pro-Youngkin and all the other Youngkin garbage, so he has no ax to grind here.

Thanks. I looked at the "Tim Anderson For Virginia" FB page and didn't see it there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From newly elected Republican VA Delegate and attorney Tim Anderson:

I have received many requests from you regarding how Gov Youngkin’s order applies to school masking requirements.

For private schools - the answer is easy. Private schools were ordered by the former health commissioner to require masking in schools. That order is rescinded. Private schools should rely on the parental choice option and create a policy allowing mask wearing to be optional.

Public schools: This is more complicated. Last year a law was passed (SB1303) that requires public schools (only public - not private) to be open for in-person learning 5 days weeks while requires “ii) provide such in-person instruction in a manner in which it adheres, to the maximum extent practicable, to any currently applicable mitigation strategies for early childhood care and education programs and elementary and secondary schools to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 that have been provided by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

The CDC’s current recommendation related to masking is: CDC recommends universal indoor masking by all* students (ages 2 years and older), staff, teachers, and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status.

SB1303 expires August 1, 2022 - so after that day - parents without doubt have the option of sending children to schools without a mask. Between now and then - I think elected school boards are going to have to make decisions - and then parents on the other side of that decision will have to bring a court fight. That will take time - Courts do not move fast. So with the 5 months we have left of school this year - I would be surprised for the Supreme Court to provide binding guidance that would apply statewide.

Final answer: For this current year: I think public school boards will decide this answer - and there won’t be enough time to get the fights through the courts.

For next public school year: Parents will decide.

Order 2: https://bit.ly/3FstazH
SB1303: https://bit.ly/3ftkApB
CDC: https://bit.ly/3KeenMp

That's very interesting. From where did you copy this?

His own FB page. And he’s very pro-Youngkin and all the other Youngkin garbage, so he has no ax to grind here.

Thanks. I looked at the "Tim Anderson For Virginia" FB page and didn't see it there.

Very glad we didn't switch to private!! I'd much rather follow the public health advice of the CDC than some random Carlyle Group guy.

[Anonymous]

The CDC recommends many things that FCPS chooses not to follow. Why are we stuck on only the masking recommendation?

[Anonymous]

It’s here. Scroll down to where he’s posting about the executive orders.
https://www.facebook.com/virginialawoffice

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some say with the airborne nature of omicron, most masks are just decorative. And most kids aren’t really affected by Covid including omicron in a way that warrants masking and the like. Time to move on. People who need protecting, have vaccines now. Kids don’t need masks.

“Some say” LOL

Exactly. Who is “some”? Steve Bannon?

CNN medical analyst?

"Cloth masks are little more than facial decorations. There's no place for them in light of Omicron,"

https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/24/health/cloth-mask-omicron-variant-wellness/index.html

Again, who will “man” the schools when all the “seasoned” teachers are out dealing with covid? Oh, also add the other adults that work at schools. Geez, kids kinda need adults in the building too!

The doc you quote (Wen, at GWU) very clearly advocates for wearing a better mask—not ditching masks altogether because some types are not effective against omicron. She also has said many times that everyone—including kids—DO need to be wearing masks. Your original post was framed as an argument to do away with masking but the stance of expert you cite to back up your post couldn’t be further from that.

Have you seen the masks kids wear at school and how they wear them? I’d agree that a class room full of kids wearing N95s would be ideal but that just isn’t the case and won’t be. But let’s be realistic on what we are protecting kids from with these masks i these ideal conditions… a cold equivalent in most cases, while vaccines are available to kids and parents alike to protect themselves. Now kids will be strapped up all day in n95s for something people can protect themselves against and rarely even affects kids?

Yes. Because kids themselves can get pretty sick and even die. Even if rare, I’m all for taking easy steps to avoid that, no matter how rare. Also, unmasking kids in schools means that all of those unmasked kids who pick up the virus will then take it home and everywhere else they go, contributing to the spread to susceptible/vulnerable people

It’s weird we weren’t doing this for the flu which killed 3-6 children every year in VA. So far since Covid started the past two years, there have been 17 pediatric deaths in VA. It’s tragic, but not worth flipping school upside down. Plus why ignore the fact that the vaccine is available to all these children? A lot has changed since March 2020. Time to adapt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The CDC recommends many things that FCPS chooses not to follow. Why are we stuck on only the masking recommendation?

Such as? Just curious.

[Anonymous]

The EO clearly violated VA state law and it’s so strange that the Governor made violating state law one of his first actions. Or maybe not strange because the man has no experience with government at all.

Now he is going to make local districts have to take legal action to enforce the state law when they already have their hands full in a pandemic. Because he’s trying to kill our public schools (which are rated 4th in the country).