ATTORNEY GENERAL MIYARES SIDES WITH LOUDOUN PARENTS IN RECENT LAWSUIT

The Governor, Attorney General, and the Superintendent of Public Instruction filed a motion today to join Loudoun County parents in a pending lawsuit against their school board.  The Loudoun parents are suing their schools for ignoring the Governor’s executive order and preventing an ‘opt out’ option for mask mandates.  After nearly two years in this pandemic, we have better risk mitigation strategies and vaccines, and we know much more about the efficacy of requiring children to wear masks all day.

Parents know what is best for their children and should be able to decide if their children wear a mask for eight hours a day.  For this reason, the Attorney General, Governor, and Superintendent of Public Instruction are seeking a motion for temporary injunction and a motion for temporary restraining order.  

“When the pandemic started, Governor Northam used his emergency powers to close down places of worship, private businesses, and schools and impose a universal mask mandate. Nearly two years later, Governor Youngkin is using those same emergency powers to adapt to our current phase in the same pandemic, by giving parents the ability to opt out of a school mask mandate,” said Attorney General Miyares.  “We have always expected this to be settled in the Courts and have complete faith in the legal process. In the meantime, we encourage parents to listen to their school principal until this is resolved in the courts.”