Teacher's Union Demand Force Mask Mandates Continue To Maintain 'Normalcy' - No Joke
You read that right... Despite the removal of mask mandates, Seattle public schoolchildren could be required to wear masks until at least May, despite mandates being lifted in the state and county, as the school district negotiates further steps with the teachers union. The union is arguing mask requirements bring a sense of "normalcy" to children.
Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, has lifted his state’s indoor mask mandate beginning March 11, including in schools, and King County will follow suit. Seattle Public Schools, however, announced in a recent statement that it would keep its mask mandate for students "until further notice."
'Masks contribute to feelings of safety and normalcy that schools provide our students,' according to a letter from the labor group. 'Removing masks will significantly disrupt that sense of normalcy, and educators will struggle to explain to students why we are removing masks so soon.'
The Seattle school system acknowledged that it was handcuffed by the union and could not move forward to lift the face-covering restriction.
Public school administrators said that they will have to 'negotiate with the Seattle Education Association, as required by the current collective bargaining agreement, to arrive at a mutually agreeable position regarding any permanent change to mask use requirements throughout the district.'
Seattle entrepreneur Steve Murch took to Twitter to denounce the union's seeming arbitrary position outlined in their letter.
Seattle’s teacher union argues for mask mandate until May 1st because “removing masks will significantly disrupt that sense of normalcy.”
It doesn’t get any more Orwellian than that. pic.twitter.com/mT6APpAko6
— Justin Spiro, LCSW (@Jusrangers) March 6, 2022
According to KUOW:
"Across King county, and across the state, school districts will have to make decisions about how to approach masking once rules have lifted.
Masks will become optional for students and staff in the Mercer Island School District after March 12.
By email, Superintendent Donna Colosky wrote: “I ask that our community be respectful and sensitive to the individual decisions our staff and families will make on whether or not to wear a mask after March 12. No one in our schools should feel harassed or intimidated by their decision to wear or not to wear a face covering.”