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The Kentucky Board of Education held an emergency, virtual meeting to approve a universal masking mandate in Kentucky schools.

While state Republicans continue to decry Beshear’s mask mandate, people with sense are bolstering it. 

The Kentucky Board of Education  instated its own mask mandate for all people who enter Kentucky schools — and its order lasts up to 270 days. Beshear’s order is only valid for 30.

“From my perspective, and in our recommendation to you, the values that we put forth are based on the health and safety of our students and their educational experience and putting that first and foremost in the decisions that we make and that those supersede other values that may be playing out in part of this decision,” said Kentucky Commissioner of Education Jason Glass.

While the Board of Education’s emergency order lasts for nine months, commissioners will be required to reevaluate it there are changes to CDC or state health guidance on masking in schools. 

Glass said the board does not plan to keep the mask mandate any longer “than necessary.”

Before the Board of Education meeting, the Kentucky Superintendents Advisory Council recommended that the Board table the emergency order in order to tailor it to local COVID conditions. But, Glass decided to ask the Board to pass it, anyway. 

Meanwhile, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron is challenging Beshear’s order in court, saying that it disregards laws that the Kentucky General Assembly passed, limiting Beshear’s ability to issue executive orders. 

Beshear challenged the limiting laws, and the case is still before the Kentucky Supreme Court. 

In his announcement of his lawsuit, Cameron said, “The Governor does not have to choose between following the science and following the law. The two can and should work together. If he believes that the science requires a statewide mask mandate for schools and childcare centers, then he needs to do what the law requires and work with the General Assembly to put the necessary health precautions in place.”

Yeah, and wait for kids and parents to get sick and possibly die? Beshear and the Board of Education don’t want to risk it. 

This article appears in August 11, 2021.

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