Henrico Schools to stop allowing unmasked students following court ruling

An Arlington County judge temporarily blocked Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s executive order to give parents the option to opt their children out of school mask mandates.

Following the ruling Friday afternoon, Henrico County Public Schools officials announced that schools will no longer allow students to attend school without wearing masks. HCPS didn’t rescind its universal masking requirement following the governor’s order— but it did allow some students to defy rules at the insistence of their parents.

“Students are expected to adhere to the universal masking requirement, and anyone who refuses to wear a mask will face disciplinary action in accordance with the Code of Student Conduct for disruption of the school day,” HCPS officials said in an email to families and staff on Friday evening. “We understand that not everyone agrees with the court’s decision. We all look forward to (and are planning for) the time when masks are no longer needed.”

As of Monday, about one dozen HCPS families refused to follow the district’s mask rules, citing the governor’s executive order. But that number grew throughout the week. Most of the maskless students attend Deep Run High School.

Only the teachers of the select group of students at Deep Run who were allowed to defy the mask rules were notified of the change before it took place on Monday. The patchwork system confused and angered many teachers and families, who said they felt left in the dark by the school’s approach.

The ruling Friday came in a lawsuit against Youngkin brought on by seven school boards, including Richmond and Fairfax. The Henrico School Board did not participate.

In the lawsuit, the school boards complained that the executive order undermines the clear authority vested in them by the General Assembly in a state law, SB 1303, to implement a reopening plan consistent with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The law, authored in part by Del. Schuyler VanValkenburg (D- Henrico) who is also a HCPS teacher, requires schools to follow mitigation strategies from the CDC “to the maximum extent practicable.” It passed last year with a strong bipartisan vote.

In the ruling, Arlington County Circuit Court Judge Louise DiMatteo said the language in SB 1303 clearly states that the General Assembly delegated certain policy determinations regarding practicability of CDC COVID-19 mitigation protocols to school boards.

There is no ambiguity in the law, the judge said in the ruling.

“...the efficacy of the governor’s school mask policy contained in EO2 does not bear upon whether he has authority to issue it," DiMatteo wrote. "The single issue before the Court is whether the governor, via his emergency powers, can override the decisions of local school boards delegated to them under SB 1303. On this pivotal point, the Court concludes that the governor cannot.”

Governor spokeswoman Macaulay Porter said in a statement that the administration will appeal the ruling, and that it is just the first step in the judicial process.

"The governor will never stop fighting for parents’ ability to choose what is best for their children,” Porter said in the statement. “The governor often said that this is not a pro-mask or anti-mask debate. It’s about parents knowing what’s best for their child’s health, and opting-out should there be a mask mandate. More voices, including from the scientific and medical community, call into question the efficacy behind a universal mask mandate for children. This is about what’s best for their kid’s health and who can best make that decision.”

The lawsuit brought on by the seven Virginia school boards is one of three challenging the governor’s order to rescind the K-12 mask mandate.

A group of Chesapeake parents sued the governor last month, and claimed in the suit that the order violates the Constitution of Virginia.

Earlier this week, a group of parents including a Henrico mother sued Youngkin. The parents of students with disabilities contend that the executive order violates federal antidiscrimination laws.

Following HCPS’ announcement late Friday, the president of the local teachers union credited local teachers in part for the school division’s announcement.

“While many will attribute this solely to the Arlington Circuit Court decision, some credit is certainly due to those teachers at DRHS who stood firm, and every educator and community member who stood in solidarity to demand the health and safety of all students and staff be prioritized,” said Patrick Miller, president of the Henrico Education Association.

* * *

Anna Bryson is the Henrico Citizen's education reporter and a Report for America corps member. Make a tax-deductible donation to support her work, and RFA will match it dollar for dollar.