Biden Education Department opening civil rights investigations over COVID mask mandate prohibitions

Biden’s Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) is investigating five states that have prohibited school districts from instituting mask mandates. Apparently this somehow violates civil rights of students with disabilities? I don’t see how. Parents and students, even in the absence of a universal mandate, can still wear masks. Parents can take their kids out of schools too if that’s what they want. I know my local school district has lost a large number of children over the last year and a half because they keep instituting needless mandates. Before instituting their latest, one of the school board members even mentioned that they would continue to hemorrhage students (and the tax dollars they bring in naturally) if they institute another mandate. Naturally they did, because draconian measures are the sorts of things petty tyrants like to do.

I digress, here’s Fox News reporting on O’Biden’s weaponization of the Department of Education;

The U.S. Department of Education is opening an investigation into whether prohibitions on indoor masking mandates constitute discrimination against kids with disabilities.

Announced on Monday, the move comes as multiple states have challenged masking in schools. The department’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) is focusing on five states – Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah.

“The Department has heard from parents from across the country – particularly parents of students with disabilities and with underlying medical conditions – about how state bans on universal indoor masking are putting their children at risk and preventing them from accessing in-person learning equally,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a press release.

“It’s simply unacceptable that state leaders are putting politics over the health and education of the students they took an oath to serve. The Department will fight to protect every student’s right to access in-person learning safely and the rights of local educators to put in place policies that allow all students to return to the classroom full-time in-person safely this fall.”

OCR will be investigating whether the states comply with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Both address discrimination based on disabilities.

The move will likely provoke backlash from conservatives who believe coronavirus restrictions have gone too far and could impact children’s emotional health.

Fox News previously reported on an Oklahoma district school board member who apologized after suggesting that students could commit “murder” by not wearing masks. The state had prevented local districts from imposing mask mandates under certain circumstances.

Last week, Missouri’s attorney general filed a class action lawsuit against school districts that have instituted “arbitrary and capricious” COVID-19 mask mandates.

“Forcing schoolchildren to mask all day in school flies in the face of science, especially given children’s low risk of severe illness and death and their low risk of transmission,” Attorney General Eric Schmitt said in a statement. “Additionally, forcing schoolchildren to mask all day could hinder critical development by eliminating facial cues and expressions.”

Category: "The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves", Biden