Jackson County Exec's COVID Mask Mandate Confronts Push Back!!!

The Courthouse is facing a surprising amount of resistance over a mask mandate for youngsters as COVID stats spike. 

Accordingly . . . 

Agree or disagree about COVID or public health policy . . . There is no denying that "pandemic fatigue" is very real and residents are increasingly opposed to more restrictions. 

This is exceptionally true in the suburbs of Jackson County where smaller school districts and municipalities are openly defying health dress code orders and receiving backup from GOP Missouri House & State Senate officials. 

And so . . . 

CHECK RESISTANCE AGAINST JACKSON COUNTY EXEC FRANK WHITE AND HIS LATEST COVID MASK MANDATE!!! 

As always, the whole point of this blog is that our community should serve as a beacon to seek out alternative perspectives . . . Again, agree or disagree, we believe that it's important vital to the strength of our democracy to listen to EVERYONE in our community, laugh from time to time and examine the issues impacting all of us. And so we share A VERY EPIC THANKS TO A KICK-ASS TKC READER who sent time note our way. 

We respect the effort so much that we're sharing it in full . . . Check-it . . . 

Some interesting noise coming out of Jackson County . . .

Frank has proposed a K-12 Mask Mandate for all Jackson County Schools, believing that kids are super-spreaders, while the data shows that they aren’t…but I digress.

In order to get the bill passed, Frank is planning on break the law.  With the end of the statewide State of Emergency, county charter rules are back in effect.  Meaning:  2/3 support is needed to pass any ordinance or mandate.

Frank is bypassing the Charter, and is planning to claim a simple majority, knowing he won’t get the required six votes.  In fact, he has tweeted his support of a simply majority.

Right now, the K12 mask mandate will pass, 5-4.  And the result will be immediately challenged in court, simply because it does not follow the charter.

Additionally, some of the local school districts are planning on not following the mandate.  While EJC superintendents have pledged to be supportive via email, they don’ have the power to make the decision…ultimately, the board of education at each district does.

In the recent Robinson vs. State of Missouri court ruling, it was affirmed that school boards have complete autonomy, based on state laws…and while Frank believes he has power, he doesn’t. 

Currently, there are only a handful of districts in EJC that don’t have mask mandates, and those are who Frank is specifically targeting.  But, he’s most angry at Blue Springs for standing up to his last attempt to put forth a community-wide mandate…and like Quinton Lucas, he much doesn’t like “those white folks from Blue Springs."

Finally, Frank has made it clear that he doesn’t want any press of his proposed K-12 Mask Mandate.  He’s told some legislative members to not publicize the vote and if you’ve noticed, there hasn’t been much media coverage, as well.  He wants to keep it quiet, doesn’t want angry constituents, and wants it to pass easily.  If passed, there are going to be many surprised citizens, teachers, and students.  All in all, this setting up to be pretty messy.  Because there is a thought one or two of the school districts will say no, Frank and the legislature will say yes, and lawsuits will be filed. 

OH!!  And don’t pay any attention to the fact CDC just said cloth masks don’t really work to stop Omicron, and that most kids wear superhero masks from Target and Gap. 

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You decide . . .