An Arlington County judge on Wednesday promised a prompt, but not immediate ruling after hearing arguments from both sides in a lawsuit seven school boards filed against Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin. She said she would issue a ruling soon.
Circuit Court Judge Louise DiMatteo made it clear that her ruling will rest less on what is the right policy than on who has the power to decide – meaning she will be looking at who has more authority – the governor or the school boards.
On Saturday, January 15, shortly after Youngkin took office as Virginia’s 74th governor, he issued nine executive orders, one of which ends the statewide COVID-19 mask mandate in K-12 schools beginning January 24.
Arlington Public Schools was one of the very first school districts to let the new governor know they intended to continue to abide by the health and safety guidelines of the CDC and local health department, according to The Hill.
Within the next week following the issuance of Youngkin’s order, five other school districts and the City of Richmond, joined Arlington Public Schools in resisting the governor’s order.
Richmond and six other school boards – Alexandria, Falls Church, Hampton, and the counties of Fairfax, Prince William, and Arlington – filed a lawsuit claiming they have authority under the state constitution, as well as under a law Gov. Ralph Northam signed last year to require public schools to provide in-person instruction while following federal COVID-19 guidelines “to the maximum extent practicable,” reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
A matter of who is more authority?
“It is a question of who has authority,” DiMatteo said after a two-hour hearing on whether to grant a request by the school boards for an injunction to temporarily block the executive order that Youngkin signed on Jan. 15
At Wednesday’s hearing, Deputy Attorney General Steven Popps argued that Youngkin is entitled to issue executive orders responding to the coronavirus pandemic just as his predecessor did when he imposed a statewide school mask mandate.
“It should not matter whose name is on the executive order,” Popps said.
But John Cafferky, a lawyer for Alexandria Public Schools said Northam’s actions were justified because he was acting to preserve public health.
Cafferky argued that Youngkin’s order, on the other hand, endangers public health. He said Youngkin is using powers designed to curtail public health crises to impose his personal philosophy that parents should decide whether their children wear masks.
“The personal-choice rationale comes at the expense of schoolwide protection,” Cafferky said, reports WTVR News. He also cited a state law that requires schools to adhere to guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the extent practicable and said those guidelines recommend universal masking.
Popps argued that no school board is able to adhere to every single CDC guideline. The CDC also has called for vaccinating all children age 5 and older, but no school board has seen fit to issue such a requirement, he said.
Both sides have asked for an injunction that would likely apply statewide, either barring implementation of Youngkin’s order or requiring local school boards to implement it, depending on which way the judge rules.
