Halloween Hypocrites
It’s ironic to hear school administrators discuss the distraction of Halloween masks in schools after they fought so hard to muzzle our children with surgical masks for years.
In Fairfax County, the school board ignored Governor Youngkin’s Executive Order 2, allowing parents to opt their children out of wearing masks beginning in January 2022. To circumvent EO2, local school board members changed the dress code to include masks days before EO2 took effect.
When parents and children exercised their rights under EO2, and students arrived to school breathing fresh air, Fairfax County School administrators suspended these children on dress code violations, now a Level 3 infraction in the Students’ Rights and Responsibilities (SR&R) guidelines. Across the county, 24 children were suspended – some for 15 days. In March 2022, when school board officials could no longer enforce their Draconian dress code with the state legislature’s passage of SB739, parents applied to have these political suspensions expunged from their children’s records. Not surprisingly, the administrators denied the requests. The independent, civilly (dis)obedient students (some in elementary school) must *pay* permanently, apparently – with suspensions on their records.
To add insult to injury, in the days leading up to Halloween 2022, school administrators sent a “Halloween Expectations” notice home with students regarding masks. It seems when not politically expedient, school board members recognize that masks are distracting and disruptive to the learning environment. The notice explains that if students intend to wear a costume to school, they cannot wear masks over their face and the costume “must comply with SR&R guidelines”.
Hmmm, there’s some funny business going on with the dress code in the SR&R guidelines. I’m wondering, are students permitted to wear masks if they dress up like doctors or nurses? If not, will these students be suspended for 15 days? Just how serious are we about that dress code?
It’s hard to understand and follow laws and regulations that are thoughtlessly implemented to push and support a political agenda, in this case, at the expense of children.
