Tensions Escalate Over School Mask Mandates As Kids Return To Classroom

[riversedge]

Source: TPM





August 16, 2021


Many schools around the country are kicking off the academic year this week, and local officials are finding themselves at the center of a culture war over COVID-19 protection measures as GOP governors work to ban school mask mandates and angry anti-mask parents hijack school board meetings to rail against the policy.

Texas officials in Dallas and Bexar counties are fighting against Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) mandate ban, and several of those officials have upheld their mandates today even after the Texas Supreme Court temporarily blocked their ability to pass mask rules at the local level.

Meanwhile, extra police officers have been dispatched to Eagle County School District schools in Colorado today “due to the tensions in the community, related to the new mask guidelines.” And in California, at least one teacher was reportedly physically injured during a dispute with a parent over masks.

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According to the Tennessee, by the time the Williamson County Schools’ mask mandate went into effect for elementary school students on Thursday last week, the district had already approved thousands of exemptions for students. The district allows students to request exemptions for religious or medical reasons......................................


Read more: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/live-blog/tensions-escalate-over-school-mask-mandates-as-kids-return-to-classroom?entry=1384760

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I am glad to see so many kids masked up in this photo

Link to tweet

?s=20

Shoemakersville, PA - August 27: Students go into Perry Elementary School on the first day of school. At Perry Elementary School in Shoemakersville, PA Thursday morning August 27, 2020 for the first day of in person ... MORE

[Lemon Lyman]

1. Ugh

The kids are pretty nonchalant about it. It's the dumazz parents who are the problem.

[paleotn]

3. As always.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. Give 'em a Spiderman or Captain America mask

and they are good to go. I have a 7 year old nephew and same aged grand-nephew (who are buddies), who generally don't have a problem with it.

They went through the past year as part of a created "pod" that my sis and nieces created with all the little cousins that limited contacts/play dates to mainly themselves...

[Orrex]

2. The "get 'em back to school at all costs" mindset is strong even here on DU

I've seen grotesquely cavalier attitudes about children's susceptibility and ability to transmit the virus, all under the pretense of lauding in-person schooling over any alternative.

Fuck that noise. My children will not be guinea pigs and will not return to in-person schooling until all teachers, staff, faculty and students are required to be vaccinated.

[Warpy]

5. Marsha Blackburn is just as bad as Abbott and De Satan

I hope there is some serious blowback against these culture warring dildoheads. Nothing says culture war like having to bury your third grader because Republican culture warriors want to make some political points and didn't mind killing your kid to do it.

[Crowman2009]

6. The anti-maskers/anti-vaxxers are nothing but terrorists.

Throw them in the same prison with Jan. 6th terrorists as well. There should be ample room once a lot of these non-violent drug offenders are pardoned and released.

[Raftergirl]

7. Some of these maskless kids

are going to get very sick and die.

Their parents will then spend the rest of their lives in a private hell of their own making.

Zero effs from me.

[madville]

8. Some masked kids will as well

and their parents will regret sending them to school. Sub-N95 level masks should not be considered an effective replacement for social distancing, that's been said since day one. They may reduce risk of transmission but do not eliminate it, people that religiously mask up and follow other guidelines still catch COVID.

There shouldn't be any in-person schooling until everyone is vaccinated, that's the only way to mostly protect them.