Reply to How many schools still have indoor mask requirements?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]News article on the topic:

https://reason.com/2022/04/06/mask-mandates-kids-dc-charter-schools-covid-19/[/quote]

Who wrote this trash?   It’s awful.  I think masks should be optional, but this thing is embarrassing.  I also appreciate how it talks about charter but in the last paragraph mentions teachers unions and how they want masks.  [/quote]

I feel very strongly that mask mandates in schools need to be lifted and must never return, and I agree. The author is clearly confused about DCPS vs. charters with regard to the mandate (no, Thomas Elementary, a DCPS, doesn't have a mask mandate anymore, the kids there apparently choose to mask or are receiving pressure from either parents or teachers to do so), and he also uses this issue as an opportunity to tout the "school choice" agenda (I guess to be expected in a libertarian outlet). It's poorly written and won't help our cause.[/quote]

The whole first few paragraphs explain that DCPS dropped masks but ask whether in practice they're still being required in some DCPS schools. That's a totally reasonable question. You would only think that by 'mandate' the author meant 'centralized rule' and not 'de facto thing that gets enforced' if you were reading that sentence in isolation. [/quote]

I know he is not talking about a centralized rule. But his speculation about the school-wide enforcement of mask mandates at individual DCPS schools is just that - speculation without any evidence. Thomas Elementary is his only DCPS example of a school where the kids were observed to all keep their masks on (in the one class that VP Harris visited). After reporting that Thomas did not respond to a request for comment, he goes on to declare that Thomas Elementary "would hardly be alone" in keeping the mask mandate in place, and then talks only about charters, which are in an entirely different situation because unlike DCPS they actually can make up their own rules. DCPS, on the other hand, does have a centralized rule, and it is highly unlikely that any of them would still be enforcing a school-wide mask mandate. They may have individual teachers who pressure students, but they cannot "keep a mask mandate in place" and "require masks", as the author speculates.

[/quote]

It's not the same and that's clear contextually. But I don't know why you would think that a school couldn't in practice require masks. Not every school has a parent population where someone is guaranteed to call a lawyer if that kind of thing were happening. (And many of the parents may themselves support it.)[/quote]

No, it's poorly written. It's only clear contextually to those who already know. So yes, it was clear to me, but it is still a poorly constructed argument. Sorry, I have graded too many college essays not to see that.  :wink:

And maybe a DCPS principal could get away with still requiring masks, who knows. I personally doubt they would try though, given the plethora of lawyers in DC, and the article certainly doesn't make a case that it's happening. I can see individual teachers do it though (and Thomas Elementary does happen to have one who might try - remember her from the FB group?). [/quote]

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