Earlier this month Arizonan Governor Doug Ducey signed an executive order lifting the requirement for staff and pupils to wear face masks at school. The order also permitted school districts and charter schools to “institute and enforce” mask-wearing policies – among other “anti-Covid” measures – if they so wished. The Post Millennial has published a great report on how some parents in Vale, Arizona, responded when they found out that their local school board had decided to keep the mask mandate in place.
The school board in the town of Vail, Arizona, had implemented a mask mandate in public schools. Parents weren’t having it, so they showed up at the Vail School Board meeting to tell the Board to make the masks optional. Even before the meeting began, the Board walked out in protest.
So what did the parents do? On Tuesday, they voted in a new School Board on the spot, then voted to end mandatory masking in Vail Schools. Parents gathered outside the School Board meeting to make their positions known…
Vail was one of those school districts that decided to continue the mask mandate through the end of the school year, noting that they intended to discuss the plans. In response, parents showed up at the scheduled meeting to state their preference for the masking orders to be lifted.
With parents in the parking lot, carrying signs that read “unmask the kids”, the School Board cancelled the meeting right before it was set to start. They cited “safety concerns”.
After the Board cancelled the meeting, the parents demanded to speak with the Board. Only a few were allowed to do so, while the rest crowded into the building. The Sheriff was called in. It didn’t quell the parents or their demands to free their kids from masking in schools.
One parent told local news: “These are my rights as a parent and they don’t get to decide how I raise them and what I believe is true and factual. It’s disgusting what’s being done and I don’t agree with it. I don’t. When you look at the flu, it also causes death. It also hurts people.” …
A video of the aftermath of the School Board walkout shows parents organising and taking charge in a very orderly, if impassioned way. They figure out how many School Board members are needed, and go about nominating, seconding, and confirming School Board members who are eligible to serve, based on the Roberts Rule of Order.
Once the fifth School Board member was elected, the brand new Vail School Board took up a meeting, and the first order of business was to do exactly what their predecessors had refused to do – make masking optional.
One of the new Board members, Anastasia, says: “I motion that the entire Vail School District be free of mask policy and it will be optional to all teachers and students alike, with no fear of retribution.”
Amid cheering, another Board Member seconds the motion, and it passes unanimously.
A great example of change being brought about from the grassroots up. But will the local authorities allow it to pass?
“School officials say district leaders are working on a letter to send to all parents as a reminder that the mask mandate remains in place,” reported local news.
Worth reading in full.
