A school board member in an Oklahoma district said kids going to school without masks on would “commit murder.”
“It’s just not okay for kids to commit murder by coming to school without a mask,” said Norman Public Schools board member Linda Sexton.
Mask-free children, she continued, “will cause a death of another child because they come to school without a mask.”
Sexton reportedly made the extremist comments while encouraging others to “stand up” against Republican Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt, who has barred schools from mandating schoolchildren to wear masks, instead shifting decision making to parents.
According to Fox News, Stitt passed a law prohibiting school districts from imposing such mandates in May. “This is about personal responsibility, this is about freedoms,” the Republican said earlier this summer.
“I would like to try to find a way to stand up as a district and get our surrounding superintendents to stand up with us, and protect our little kids,” Sexton said at the school board meeting. “It’s insane to send 5- and 6- and 7- and 8- – all the way up through 11-year-olds – that don’t have a choice about vaccine.”
While Sexton is fighting to force kids to wear masks in schools, the Orange County Board of Education in California announced plans this month to sue Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom over the state’s indoor mask mandate for K-12 students attending public schools for the upcoming year.
“The board voted 4-0 during closed session in favor of filing the suit, and then had an attorney read a press release in which they said Newsom has abused his authority by indefinitely continuing to issue health edicts under a state of emergency,” the Orange County Register reported.
“The release accused Newsom of refusing ‘to give up his emergency powers,’ claiming ‘he has now misused that power in a way that threatens serious harm to Orange County’s students,’” The Daily Wire noted.
“The Board has approved this challenge to protect our kids, and to uphold the rule of law and our constitutional framework of government and separation of powers,” the press release added.
The mask battle is raging in Florida, too.
Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis recently moved to ban schools from forcing children to wear masks, and when school officials said they would defy the move, DeSantis said he would withhold pay from any official implementing mask mandates on children, The Daily Wire reported:
“With respect to enforcing any financial consequences for noncompliance of state law regarding these rules and ultimately the rights of parents to make decisions about their children’s education and health care decisions, it would be the goal of the State Board of Education to narrowly tailor any financial consequences to the offense committed,” the governor’s office told CBSMiami. “For example, the State Board of Education could move to withhold the salary of the district superintendent or school board members, as a narrowly tailored means to address the decision-makers who led to the violation of law.”
“Education funding is intended to benefit students first and foremost, not systems,” the statement continued. “The Governor’s priorities are protecting parents’ rights and ensuring that every student has access to a high-quality education that meets their unique needs.”
DeSantis was a leading governor in getting vaccine accessibility across his state, with a particular focus on the elderly. He’s also worked to ban any national implementation of so-called vaccine passports for Floridians, again emphasizing choice and personal freedom.
Related:
- School Board Suspended By New Mexico After Defying Dem Gov’s Mask Mandate For Kids
- School Board Announces Plans To Sue California Governor Over Indoor Mask Mandate For K-12 Students
A previous version of this article erroneously referred to the Oklahoma Governor as Kevin Stites. He is Kevin Stitt.