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School districts have re-implemented mandates for children for the 2022-2023 academic year, against the wishes of many parents across the U.S., who have been fighting it tooth and nail at board of education meetings.
Most recently, a 4-year-old boy in San Francisco, California was kicked out of school for not wearing a mask, Fox News Digital reported Friday.
The dad’s attorney, Tracy Henderson, sent a cease and desist letter to the principal in the Mountain View Whisman School District which alleged bullying, discrimination and harassment over the mask requirement.
“He basically looked like a PTSD (Post-traumatic stress disorder) victim,” the dad, who did not give his full name, told Fox News Digital about his son. “He was inconsolable for about two hours.”
Mountain View Whisman School District has since rescinded its mask mandate.
In another example, a Philadelphia mom, Suzanne Shaheen, who said her son has asthma, threatened to sue her school over the restrictions.
“With a mask, no teacher would be able to see that he is having a flare-up, and the school district is basically isolating any kid who is not willing to wear a mask,” she told Fox & Friends First.
All pre-kindergarten students in Philadelphia are required to wear masks all year while older age groups are required to wear masks for the first 10 days.
In response to the mandate, the Philadelphia school board got an “earful” from parents over the masking policy, according to a local PBS outlet. A parent named Robert Ziegler said it was “out of touch with the current reality,”
The district attributed another policy that met pushback to a typo in the guidelines. It originally appeared to say students with COVID-19 symptoms who have had a negative test must remain at home “until they were symptom-free and diagnosed with something other than COVID,” the local PBS outlet said.
Parents in Fairfax County, Pennsylvania, are “sounding off” against the district’s policy that suggested their children would have to be masked if the community level of COVID reached a high level, Fox News Digital reported.
Milwaukee also announced in July that it will require masks when community level is high, per the Centers for Disease and Control; it was at a medium level as of Sunday.
“The district will continue to require masks to be worn at all schools, sites, and activities,” the policy said.
In Wisconsin, parents have organized against at least 17 school boards in recall efforts relating to the way the members handled COVID-19, according to United Press International.
In one of those districts where a recall effort took place, Kenosha, parents protested the mask mandates last year by threatening to keep their kids home on the date where enrollment is counted – which would determine the district’s funding, according to Wisconsin Public Radio.
In California, the Los Angeles County canceled plans to reimpose a mask mandate after one of its counties, Beverly Hills, voted unanimously not to obey it if it were to become adopted.
“I believe masking mandates are polarizing and are unenforceable,” Beverly Hills Mayor Lili Bosse said. “I’ve heard loud and clear from parents and caregivers who are witnessing the…
Read More: Public school districts implementing COVID restrictions meet ferocious community pushback