FCPS defies Youngkin’s mask policy
Fairfax County Public Schools is continuing to require students and staff to wear masks in school in defiance of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s executive order ending universal mask mandates.
Executive Order 2, issued by Youngkin Jan. 15, states “The parents of any child enrolled in an 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.”
FCPS Superintendent Scott Brabrand sent a letter to parents Jan. 16 stating that “FCPS continues to require universal mask-wearing in alignment with CDC guidance.”
Arlington and Alexandria public schools are also keeping their mask requirements in place.
“Our layered prevention strategies have proven effective in keeping [Covid] transmission rates low in our schools,” Brabrand wrote. “We know our students are best served by in-person instruction. Adhering to our layered prevention strategies, especially universal masking, keeps our schools open and safe places for students to learn.”
FCPS requires students, teachers, and other school staff to wear a face mask indoors regardless of vaccination status. Wearing a mask outdoors is recommended for anyone not fully vaccinated in crowded settings.
The executive order takes effect Jan. 24.
27 responses to “FCPS defies Youngkin’s mask policy”
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Youngkin is a fool and so are all the other GOP politicians who are causing an avoidable spread of COVID. They alone should bear the full cost of medical care, lifelong disabilities, and damages due to lost income and loss of life that will result from his edict. Absolutely shameful. I hope everyone who voted for him fully experiences the consequences caused by such a reckless policy change. Hooray for FCPS siding with science and public health.
Republicans and their small government freedumbs!
Youngkin had better realize quickly that Virginia is not a deep red state, and that policies like this meant to catapult him into Trump’s good graces will go down like a lead balloon in the largely blue swaths of the state.
Here, here!
FCPS follows state law. Fixed your headline.
Liberal Nothern VA needs to get a clue – masks do not work! Just a matter of time before this is all resolved, and masks come off for good if that is the choice a student or his/her parents prefer! Youngkin is the best thing to happen to VA in years!!!!
The CDC disagrees with you, and I happen to trust the CDC more than you:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/k-12-guidance.html
And since the actual Virginia law instructs schools to follow CDC guidelines, Youngkin’s edict violates that law and is unenforceable.
Except the CDC “recommends” wearing a mask indoor. That’s not the same thing as “requires”.
Amen!!
Wonder when they will publish a study showing how screwed up mentally these kids are for having to wear a mask? It’s also clear that northern Virginia schools don’t have any interest in what the parents want for having made the decision so quickly without feedback from them.
Care to share some data showing the majority of parents don’t want masks? I’ll wait…..
Didn’t say that. Simply stated the obvious that northern Virginia school districts clearly did not wait to hear what the parents want. Not surprising. I’m sure there is no lasting effects on the kid’s mental health, it’s fine.
You are insinuating that what they want is against what the schools decided. Again, I’ll ask for you to prove that. Just because it’s your opinion, does not mean it’s true.
As for mental health, I’d rather have the kids in school with a mask than constantly having to shut down schools because Covid is spreading rampantly through students and staff. You also have to take into account the teachers. If they aren’t able to teach or don’t feel comfortable, what’s the backup plan? Where do you magically find qualified folks to teach in a pinch? Do we just take some random person and expect our kids to not be affected by the untrained?
You need solutions not just gripes.
Always love the folks who claim masks don’t work without citing anything to back up their claims. If you think you know better than the CDC/NIH etc. then please, show your credentials and research, otherwise, leave your propaganda at home. Masks wouldn’t be as necessary if folks would have done the right thing in the beginning but they get their info from Social Media and TV Personalities so here we are.
You all are brainwashed and afraid to make decisions for yourself. You do whatever the media tells you to do! I don’t care if you do our don’t wear a mask – I really could care less, but the fact the each of you aren’t thinking for yourselves is the scariest part of this ensure mess we are ALL find ourselves in!
Youngkin had better wise up quickly and realize that Virginia is not a deep red state, that showboating policies like this meant to catapult him into Trump’s good graces will go down like a lead balloon in the large purple and blue swaths of the state.
You are a blithering idiot if you’d rather have someone with COVID breathing on you unmasked versus masked. Have some common sense.
….if only more folks respected the science & public health concerns. new governor is playing politics & it is not a good look
Used to live in Virginia, now live in Florida. Still subscribe to Annandale Blog to see what’s going on back “in the hood.” Kids go to school here in class and without masks. I don’t see that masks make a real difference. Seems that the kids here are healthier and happier for not having to wear them. Life is normal.
When faced with a real danger, most folks are smart enough to know when and how to protect themselves and their kids. CDC has issued so much contradictory info that I wouldn’t trust them. But if you think the CDC knows what they are talking about, then you should continue to follow their advice. You, nor the government has any right to make other folks follow their advice.
God gives free will and intellect. We have the choice to use them wisely or foolishly. Either way, there is a price to pay and we all have the right to make our own choices and pay our own prices. Government – which is nothing more than other people who say they are acting for the collective good, but really want to exert control- should not get involved.
As for me, glad that I am no longer in VA, but in FL. Should have moved her much sooner in life.
Luvin the fun and sun.
Amen!!
The World Health Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) all recommend children wear masks in public indoor settings to protect both themselves and others from all forms of covid-19. Some masks work better than others, and the close-fitting respirators have been proven best for the omicron variant, but nearly any mask is still better than nothing, especially when combined with the other pandemic protocols that should be second nature to us all by now.
God may give intellect, but certainly not to all people equally. Wisdom is not necessarily a choice, because it must be achieved–as does knowledge. There are plenty of people in this world who don’t care to develop either one, regardless of the brains they were allegedly born with. I don’t automatically trust the cognition of others, particularly when they’ll place the validity of mere opinion and emotions over expertise and facts.
God may give free will, but morally inseparable from that is responsibility—the price you clearly *don’t * want to pay. There’s this thing called civic duty, you see, that applies when your actions affect another’s—and refusing to take standard precautions during a pandemic DOES impact others, sometimes horribly, no matter how hard it is for you to comprehend. (This is where that attained knowledge kicks in, though it’s a matter of relatively basic science.) It is simply reprehensible, and actually pretty stupid, to sacrifice another’s health at the altar of your reckless disregard.
Indeed, you are better off in Florida. Please keep your ignorance, germs, and hubris right there where it belongs.
https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/149/1/e2021054724/183461/State-Mask-Mandate-Bans-for-Schools-Law-Science?searchresult=1
https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/conditions/COVID-19/Pages/Return-to-School-During-COVID-19.aspx
://www.unicef.org/coronavirus/covid-19-and-masks-tips-families
FL did have the highest number of kids in the hospital for COVID at one point. And today the rank has gone from 4th to 11th in spread per John Hopkins data.
Only 62% of US population is fully vaccinated.
If only all the COVID deniers would gather in Florida and let nature and Darwin take its course. Unfortunately, they are everywhere. Thank you, NT, for taking your extremism out of VA.
The World Health Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) all recommend children wear masks in public indoor settings to protect both themselves and others from all forms of covid-19. Some masks work better than others, and the close-fitting respirators have been proven best for the omicron variant, but nearly any mask is still better than nothing, especially when combined with the other pandemic protocols that are simple and second nature to people around the world.
Free will is morally inseparable from responsibility–the price you clearly DON’T want to pay. In civilized societies, a little thing called civic duty applies whenever your actions (or failure to act) might affect the wellbeing of one’s community. Refusing to take standard precautions during a pandemic DOES impact others–from your neighbors and strangers on the bus to health care workers and the economy–no matter how hard it is for you to comprehend.
When people put more stock in mere opinion and emotions than expertise and facts, their alleged intelligence means nothing. Only fools and dimwits dismiss the readily available knowledge, backed by abundant empirical evidence, that can save the lives and protect the long-term health of literally millions.
Indeed, you are better off in Florida. Please keep your ignorance, germs, and hubris right there where they belong.
If masks work…then why is Omicron spreading like wildfire. I literally see everyone wearing one. They don’t work. Stay woke.
Very glad to see the moderator of this site allows comments from alternative sides of the issue, and not just one.
It took a while, but I’ve gotten used to masking, and have come around to thinking mandatory masking should be imposed, at least during flu and COVID season (once COVID becomes endemic like the cold and flu, if it hasn’t already) permanently.
The statistics indicate the flu is much more deadly than COVID for the young, including school-age children. And as many of the commenters here have correctly noted, when individuals correctly wear N95 masks it limits the spread of viruses (not just COVID and flu).
A government which cares for the safety and health of its citizens must mandate that all citizens take the easy action of masking when doing so saves lives.
All the poeple claiming “masks work” ….are you looking at what is happening? I hardly leave the house outside of the grocery store, telework, got vaxxed, wear a mask anytime i do go out and guess what. I got Covid. So what happened? But…science. It’s clear they do not work. Give it up. I will continue to wear one but they do not work.
Offering an anecdote that you wore a mask and still got COVID doesn’t illustrate that wearing masks doesn’t help limit the spread of COVID. That is basic logic.
Wearing a seatbelt limits injuries in car accidents.
Would you argue that because you knew someone who died in a car accident despite wearing a seatbelt means that seatbelts aren’t good to wear?
Would you argue that because you know someone who ate undercooked chicken and didn’t die, that cooking chicken to the FDA recommended minium temp doesn’t limit foodborne illnesses caused by undercooking food?
Got it. “In Facebook We Trust”