Virginia Superintendent Sends Stern, Power-Hungry Message To Maskless Students Following Youngkin Executive Order

Dr. Scott Brabrand, Superintendent of Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS), presented a 34-page “Principal Briefing” PowerPoint presentation during a meeting with school officials on Friday, instructing them to suspend students who refuse to wear a mask.

Asra Nomani of Parents Defending Education said Brabrand had gone “rogue” in violation of Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s (R) executive order which enables parents to choose whether their kid would wear a mask in school.

According to the presentation posted by Nomani, refusal to wear a mask would be considered a “Dress Code” violation and would result in a suspension.  The following are the specifics from the presentation, as written by Nomani:

• In slide No. 12, headlined, “R2109 Regarding Mask Refusal,” the school district instructed administrators: “Continue to follow existing regulations and practices. Any student who refuses to wear a face covering while indoors on school property or during FCPS-provided transportation, and who is not otherwise exempt will be precluded access to face-to-face instructional programming until they comply with the requirements of this regulation.”
• Regarding “Intentional Removal / Refusal to Wear Face Covering,” he said: “Intentional removal of or refusal to wear a face covering during the times face coverings are required by all students will be treated as a violation of the Regulation 2613 (Student Dress Code). This includes indoors on school property and transportation.
• This will result in an “SRR Violation of BSO7 (Dress Code),” and noted: “BSO3 (Refusal to comply with staff requests…) may be used as a secondary infraction code to document refusal despite redirection from staff.” The point has a big “NEW!” graphic beside it.
• The “Response” will be swift with a “1 day OSS,” which means “Out of School Suspension” for students who don’t wear masks.
• The briefing says: “1 day OSS for an infraction using the new SUS-M suspension code (this process will enable staff to monitor data regarding this unique situation and gives students the ability to return the next day to comply with the regulation).” “SUSP” is the typical code for a suspension.

Youngkin issued Executive Order Number Two on his first day, which his office described as a “promise to empower Virginia parents in their children’s education and upbringing by allowing parents to make decisions on whether their child wears a mask in school.”

“There is no medical reason for a vaccinated and/or masked teacher to treat an otherwise healthy unmasked student any differently than a healthy masked student,” the Virginia Department of Education and the Virginia Department of Health wrote in their guidance, which was released on Friday afternoon.

Superintendent Brabrand, according to Nomani, is “setting up a showdown with Gov. Youngkin–and parents…parents in Fairfax County Public Schools started making phone calls to lawyers to explore filing lawsuits over their children being denied a public education.”

Stay tuned to The Scoop for any updates.