Nearly four dozen families have joined together to file a lawsuit against Polk County Public Schools demanding that the school district drop its mandate for students to wear masks at all times in school as part of its procedures to try to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
“Just how much harm to children is acceptable to achieve PCPS’s stated goal of ‘slowing the spread of Covid-19′ at this stage of the pandemic? The only civilized answer must, of course, be ‘none,’” attorney Jeff Childers wrote in the lawsuit, which demands $100,000 in damages. “Undoubtedly, PCPS has good intentions. But, this lawsuit perfectly illustrates the risks of giving unilateral ‘emergency powers’ to well-meaning but poorly-informed, fast-reacting, and unwise executive agents. Like a gorilla playing with a kitten, PCPS is killing us with its kindness.”
The lawsuit comes after protests at a school board meeting on May 11.
Childers continued that the school board’s decisions, made last summer with the input of local medical experts, including the Florida Department of Health’s Polk County Director Dr. Joy Jackson, “have been the exact wrong decisions.”