Several parents spoke out during a Virginia school board meeting on Tuesday, pleading for members to reject a proposal to make wearing face masks optional for the upcoming school year.
The Virginia Beach City Public Schools board ultimately voted 4-6 to reject the optional mask resolution, a decision that comes as a state mandate requiring students, faculty, staff, and visitors to wear masks inside classrooms is set to expire on July 25.
“Adults have access to the vaccine,” said Lindsey Bohon, who has four children. “It’s time to let our children resume normal life, see their teachers’ and classmates’ faces, and for our children to stop living in fear.”
Another parent told the board: “You’re all hypocrites” for “sitting here without masks and want our kids masked. No, we’re fighting.”
FAUCI SAYS CALL FOR CHILDREN 3 AND OLDER TO WEAR MASKS IN SCHOOL IS ‘REASONABLE’
Tensions reached a peak during the meeting, which lasted four hours, when speakers asked board members to stop interrupting their complaints for allegedly going off-topic.
The majority of people spoke out against masking students, but at least one parent called into the meeting to support masking children until they have all been vaccinated, according to WTKR, a CBS affiliate.
The vote to reject the proposal does not mean masks will be required in the fall semester and leaves future changes to stem the spread of COVID-19 on the table.
The school board will continue to “monitor and consider relevant agency guidance at the federal, state and local levels as it becomes available,” according to a statement from School Board Chairwoman Carolyn Rye.
An anti-mask rally also took place before the meeting, in which one 8-year-old student said masks caused him to have headaches.
“It gives me headaches when I wear it all day when I’m at school,” the student said. “I can’t see my friends smile, and I can’t see them talk. Sometimes, I can’t understand, and I can’t breathe at all.”
Footage of parents protesting school pandemic policies have gone viral online in recent months, stemming from certain localities where school administrations have taken a staunch approach to limiting the spread of COVID-19 in classrooms.
The American Academy of Pediatrics updated its health recommendations on July 19, stating, “Everyone older than age 2 wear masks, regardless of vaccination status.” Children under the age of 12 do not yet have Food and Drug Administration approval to get a COVID-19 vaccine.
President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, Anthony Fauci, said this week he believes it is “reasonable” for students over the age of 2 to wear masks for the school year.
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The Washington Examiner contacted the board but did not immediately receive a response.
