A New Hampshire track and field coach said he was fired for opposing his school’s face mask mandate.
“I will not put kids on the track and tell them to run any races while wearing masks,” former Pembroke Academy coach Bradley Keyes said in a letter to the school’s athletic director. “I will not stand up in front of the kids and lie to them and tell them that these masks are doing anything worthwhile out in an open field with wind blowing and the sun shining.”
Keyes wrote that the face mask mandate represents “senseless, irrational, cowardice bulls—.”
Keyes then said in the letter to “fire me if you must” and wrote in another blog entry that the school took him up on that offer and terminated his employment.
“I am not surprised,” Keyes responded. “I made my choice to speak out. They made theirs.”
Keyes said that his goal was to make a point and get the word out in hopes that mask restrictions would be changed down the road.
“I just think people haven’t pushed back, and I decided it was time to push back,” he said, adding that he wears a mask when he is forced to by businesses but, “based on what I read, honestly, I don’t believe they do much good.”
The coronavirus guidelines at the school were imposed by the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association, and New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu signed an emergency order requiring residents over the age of 5 to wear masks in all public spaces both inside and outside that has been extended through April 15.
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Keyes said he has received dozens of messages of support and that one track team member went on the record to say he was concerned about wearing a mask while competing.
“It gets you really tired, especially, you know, it’s going to get up to 80 degrees soon, and it’s going to be really hard for us to keep doing what we like to do,” track team member David Testerman said about wearing a mask.
Pembroke Academy did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.
