One Virginia Democrat has chosen to break ranks, siding with newly elected Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin against forced masking of schoolchildren.
Virginia state Senator Chap Petersen, who represents Fairfax County, stood up to his own party, taking a stand against the Democrats’ policy of forcing children to wear masks in school.
On Governor Youngkin’s first official day in office, he signed several executive orders, including one declaring that school districts should no longer be the sole authority on whether children wear masks in schools. While he did not outright ban masks in schools, Youngkin instead empowered parents to make that decision for their children.
Of course, many school districts in Virginia immediately announced that they were going to ignore that order, as Democrats often do. When a law or rule doesn’t benefit them or isn’t according to their radical principles, they simply ignore it, with one major example being sanctuary cities/states for illegal immigrants.
These school districts’ decisions are likely to lead to intense legal battles. Some of the school officials are trying to back up their choice to defy the governor using a recently passed law in Virginia that requires school districts to align COVID mitigation policies with CDC guidance. The problem with that excuse is that CDC guidance doesn’t actually require students to wear masks in schools, it simply recommends masks.
Sen. Petersen, a moderate Democrat, sent an email to the Fairfax County Parents Association demanding the Fairfax County School Board immediately prepare a plan to end forced masking in schools or face legislative intervention.
According to reporting from the Daily Wire, Petersen’s email demanded that the Fairfax County School Board “define an ‘off ramp’ for mandatory masking. That means plainly stated metrics as well as a final deadline (e.g. Valentine’s Day).”
“They should announce that immediately. The forced masking policy is going to end very soon, i.e. in a few weeks. Otherwise, the General Assembly will again step in,” the email continued. “IT IS NOT AN ACCEPTABLE LONG-TERM SOLUTION.”
While Petersen has stated in other interviews that he doesn’t agree with Youngkin’s executive order on the bases that it usurps legislative authority, calling it “unconstitutional,” he does still agree with the spirit of the order: that the forced masking of schoolchildren must have an immediate endpoint.
“All I’m saying is — and I don’t see how anyone can disagree with this — we’re not going to have masks forever,” Petersen told the Washington Post.
