Thank God this is Arizona and not Florida. In Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis is strongarming school districts into abandoning mask mandates by threatening them with loss of funding.
What an ass! Any child who gets sick or dies because of his reactionary policies should be on his head and those families should take legal action against DeSantis if, God forbid, something happens to their children.
At least in Arizona, while Doug Ducey is too beholden to his Know-Nothing anti vaxxer base to sensibly mandate masks to stem the surge of the COVID Delta Variant. That same science-denying base is responsible for spreading the virus. But Ducey, at least for now, is not threatening children’s lives by cutting off funding to districts like Phoenix Union High School, Peoria, and Catalina Foothills who have adopted sensible safety precautions like mask mandates and quarantines.
Ducey should still be held accountable if children become ill because he did not mandate masks in schools.
Arizona is also lucky to have a Public School Superintendent that puts safety and science over base politics.
In a comment reacting to Phoenix Unions (and other districts) that have chosen or will choose to adopt COVID 19 mitigation strategies, Superintendent Kathy Hoffman stated:
“It is unconscionable that our public schools have been put in this position by the Governor and Republican-led legislature. The law signed by Governor Ducey in June was reckless and short-sighted – following public health guidance should not be political.
I want kids in their classrooms because that is where the best learning happens – and until we are fully on the other side of this pandemic, we must take every necessary precaution to protect student health and safety in those classrooms and ensure minimal disruption to learning. We have serious work ahead of us to help students recover from the last two disrupted school years, and we don’t have time for political games.”
Save Our Schools Arizona also issued a statement supporting the Phoenix Union Decision.
Read our statement supporting Phoenix Union High School District's mask mandate: pic.twitter.com/d8poNhlKLl
— Save Our Schools AZ (@arizona_sos) July 31, 2021
Hoffman is right. We should not be playing Coronavirus Roulette with children’s lives and Governor Ducey needs to show backbone and stand up to his science-denying rabid base by calling for a mask mandate until the surge dissipates and COVID 19 vaccinations approach an acceptable level.
As the school year begins this week for most of the state’s children, hopefully, other districts will follow Phoenix Union, Peoria, and Catalina Foothills’ lead.
Keep children and educators safe.
Follow the science and medical guidance.
Wear a mask.
Get vaccinated.
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