Virginia Gover­nor Glenn Youngkin issued an exec­u­tive order to end the mask mandates across schools in the state on Janu­ary 15^th. The order grants parents the abil­ity to “elect for their chil­dren not to be subject to any mask mandate in effect at the child’s school or educa­tional program.”

However, several school districts such as Alexan­dria City, Arling­ton County, City of Rich­mond, Fair­fax County, Falls Church City, Hamp­ton City, and Prince William County, are filing lawsuits against Youngkin claim­ing that this order violates state health laws and violates the Virginia Constitution.

Justice High School and the rest of FCPS plans to keep mask regu­la­tions in place, requir­ing students to keep masks on during the school day. In addi­tion, they are requir­ing athletes to provide proof of vacci­na­tion or a weekly nega­tive test. 

“I’m in full support of lift­ing any and all mask and vaccine mandates every­where, I feel like it’s uncon­sti­tu­tional and unnec­es­sary,” said Justice anthro­pol­ogy teacher Richard MacDon­ald.

In agree­ment with MacDon­ald, parents around FCPS have been shar­ing their thoughts on how they believe COVID proto­cols should be contin­ued in schools. The Fair­fax County Parents Asso­ci­a­tion (@FFXParentsAssoc) has been a lead advo­cate of the matter. 

“We’ve heard reli­able reports that FCPS super­in­ten­dent Scott Brabrand is work­ing with [public] health lead­ers to develop offramp metrics for masks,” the group said on Twit­ter. “Does that mean the excuse that ‘we have to follow CDC [recom­men­da­tions]’ is contrived? Yes. Does that mean FCPS will stop wast­ing instruc­tional [money] suing the gover­nor? No.”

MacDon­ald shares his perspec­tive on how parents’ opin­ions should influ­ence coun­ty­wide rulings: “I think parents should have 100% of choice on [those deci­sions], and I do believe that parents, not the govern­ment, know what’s best for their kids concern­ing masks in schools ”

Parents will always hold concerns about their chil­dren, however, plenty still hold the belief that deci­sions regard­ing COVID-19 should be made by indi­vid­u­als directly affected by the school envi­ron­ment (ie: student and teacher input).

“Parents were right about online school hurt­ing our educa­tion; they were wrong about masks hurt­ing our educa­tion,” said Pres­i­dent of Young Democ­rats club, senior Eli Bardash. “Us students are handling our mask­ing respon­si­bil­i­ties well and COVID proto­col has been smooth sail­ing for most of us, even [for] those who contracted the virus.”

Bardash further displays his feel­ings about Youngkins deci­sion: “Even with COVID cases falling during the Omicron wave, cases are far higher than they’ve ever been before this wave, and under­min­ing the abil­ity of coun­ties to protect its students and employ­ees is simply dangerous.”

Even students from D.C. Public Schools have walked out of their class­rooms in addi­tion to orga­niz­ing virtual protests, advo­cat­ing for enhanced COVID proto­cols. DCPS students created Students 4 Safe Learn­ing (@stu4safelearn on Twit­ter), an orga­ni­za­tion to further their cause. 

Arling­ton Circuit Court Judge Louise DiMat­teo blocked Youngkin’s exec­u­tive order. She agreed with the several school districts who urged the contin­u­a­tion of mask mandates, and granted a tempo­rary restrain­ing order of Youngkin’s exec­u­tive order.

The several school boards released a combined response saying that “the order allows schools to continue to protect the health and well-being of all students and staff. While the legal process on this matter contin­ues, today’s ruling preserves the exist­ing poli­cies and prac­tices in Virginia school divi­sions, which includes mask­ing requirements.”

This restrain­ing order will be in place until there is a conclu­sion of the school board’s lawsuits, after a judge provides a final ruling. Until then, mask mandates are set to continue for Fair­fax County schools.