Reply to No more masks at VA privates?

Forum Index » Private & Independent Schools

Reply to "No more masks at VA privates?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Does lifting the masking mandate only apply to public schools? I’m confused.[/quote]

Privates can do whatever they want now. [/quote]

The mandate covered all k-12 schools.  The crazy thing is Youngkin is even trying to prohibit private schools from requiring masks, if you read the language of the order.

“A child whose parent has elected that he or she is not subject to a mask mandate should not be required to wear a mask under any policy implemented by a teacher, school, school district, the Department of Education, or any other state authority.”

What happened to letting private entities make their own decisions without government interference?[/quote]

Privates that followed the Northam EO will need to follow the Youngkin EO. [/quote]

Not sure why you think that.  Northam’s EO was consistent with CDC recommendations, while Youngkin’s is contrary to it.  Here is what VA Code says about it:

§ 2. Each school board shall offer in-person instruction to each student enrolled in the local school division in a public elementary and secondary school for at least the minimum number of required instructional hours and to each student enrolled in the local school division in a public school-based early childhood care and education program for the entirety of the instructional time provided pursuant to such program. For the purposes of this act, [b]each school board shall[/b] (i) adopt, implement, and, when appropriate, update specific parameters for the provision of in-person instruction and (ii) [b]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.[/b][/quote]

1) “school boards” concern public, municipal schools and doesn’t cover privates and 2) I would like to see a definition of “practicable”. To me that’s the trigger word. What one school thinks is practicable and another will not.

I’m not sure around here but near Richmond I expect Hanover and New Kent to make masks discretionary after the 24th. I am from Richmond and have some contacts who teach in the big privates down there and they’re telling me many of their schools are on the fence. It’s not a done deal one way or the other. The big concern seems to be discipline against a student/family who won’t wear a mask after the 24th. As of now they are sent to the office and can be suspended. But after the 24th does the school still want to take this approach?  [/quote]

Re your point 1), that is the question. Does Youngkin’s EO2 apply to privates?  Meaning a private cannot require masks after this week?  The quoted statute applies to publics, but Yougkin’s EO seems to apply to any school, unless there is something implied in it that applies only to publics.  If it does apply to privates, then we have an anomolous situation where he has more exerted more authority over private schools that he can over public ones.

As much as the right-wing seems to ridicule the left for virtue signaling, the irony is this is a symbolic act to signal to his base.  ACPS, APS and FCPS have already indicate they will disregard it.[/quote]

As I understand it,[b] Youngkin's order cancelled Northam's previous order and in that previous order it seemed to apply to ALL school's and universities (including privates)[/b].  I was on the board of a NOVA private when Covid hit in spring 2020 and a similar discussion was held re school's closures: Does the Governor have authority over privates and it was determined in some cases he does (at least for that school).  So the easy part at the time was to say "We can go along with the order" and in 2020 that made sense. My term expired and I am no longer on the board so I do not know what current discussions are taking place.

However, to speculate, this new order is worded in an interesting way that seems to make it more difficult for a private school to go against because it gives the power to parents, literally in the wording.  It also has a long list of educational categories (schools, school boards etc) and I don't see definitions in the order.  So now you will have parents that will push back because of this wording. I am very interested to see how this plays out (my own personal masks position aside). I believe whoever wrote this order knew exactly what they were writing and it is all intentional.  I think the pendulum leans more towards the parents here.  One thing privates might have going for them is that contract renewals are coming up, and it's a seller's market for privates, so parents might not want to make waves until they sign their renewal contracts.[/quote]

i think this is right.  I’m not sure how much legal authority Northam’s EO carried, either.  What it did was give political cover to HOSs who wanted to implement a mask requirement without having to take hear from parents.  They could credibly say to parents it was out of their hands.  That’s why I supported Northam’s requirement.  Now Youngkin has swing the pendulum the opposite way.  Now if a HOS wants a masked policy, they not only have to deal with upset parent but are potentially in validation of the EO (i say potentially because I’m still skeptical of his authority here).  So even if you had a HOS with a spine who would require masks in the face of parent opposition, they may not be able to under the EO.

“Empowering parents” in the educational setting is a recipe for disaster.  If parents want to micromanage their kids education, they can homeschool, find a school that checks all their boxes, or start their own school.  For the rest of us, I’ll defer to the professional educators.  
[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics