Late last week, Oklahoma City Public Schools followed the lead of a few other school districts around the state and announced mask mandates for students and staff.
The move was in defiance of an intentionally weak, toothless and loophole-filled law that Oklahoma GOP lawmakers and Governor Kevin Stitt passed earlier this year that banned mask mandates in public schools, because you know, pandering to quack, science-denying, reality-averse voters is way more important than the health and safety of public school students and teachers.
For the most part, the mask mandate has been welcomed by just about everyone who lives in reality and treats the pandemic seriously, but some district staff members who probably think they're brave patriots standing up to a totalitarian government refused to comply.
Via News 9:
Six employees for Oklahoma City Public Schools have been placed on paid administrative leave after refusing to comply with the district’s mask requirement.
Friday, August 13, OKCPS Superintendent Dr. Sean McDaniel announced the requirement that face coverings be worn while on school property.
“Per OKCPS Administrative Regulation C-26-R2 (under C-26 Wellness) Mask Requirement to Protect against the Spread of COVID-19, all employees are afforded the opportunity to request a medical accommodation… As always, the health and safety of OKCPS students and staff is our highest priority,” a spokesman for the district said in part in a statement sent to News 9
Since most kids still aren't eligible to be vaccinated, I think requiring both students and staff to wear a mask at school is a good idea. That being said, couldn't the district have gone with a little less authoritarian-sounding name than "Administrative Regulation C-26-R2?" Were they trying to make the order sound as Big Brother as possible? I can't wait to see what Holocaust memes and analogies The Oklahoma GOP and local weathermen whip up for that one!