The 16-year-old junior at Laramie High School in Wyoming who was arrested, cuffed and hauled off-campus last month for refusing to comply with the school’s mask mandate has filed suit against the governor, public health officials and the school districts.
The Casper Star-Tribune newspaper in Wyoming reports:
“The suit alleges that Gov. Mark Gordon did not have legal authority to issue executive orders in reaction to the coronavirus pandemic, since the virus did not pose a significant threat to human life.
The plaintiffs are also asking the court to rule that orders from local or state health departments and policies enacted by school districts were arbitrary and unfounded in scientific fact.
Along with Gordon, the suit names State Health Officer Alexia Harrist, the Wyoming Department of Health and its interim director, Stefan Johansson, and school districts in Sheridan, Albany, Laramie, Goshen, Sweetwater and Uinta counties.
Statements from nine parents with students in those districts testify to the negative effects mask-wearing has had on their children, from persistent headaches to anxiety attacks.
Many said that their children had been bullied and harassed at school — by both students and staff — for refusing to wear a mask. Some said they had been repeatedly denied exemptions, or if granted, they were not taken seriously by staff, who continued to ask the students to mask up.
Several parents also described school boards limiting public comment periods and passing mask mandates despite parents’ objections.”
Grace Smith and her father Andrew Smith appeared on Fox to discuss why they are pushing back against the policy and what it means to restore their individual liberties.
Grace says “I think a big goal is also to create awareness for a lot of parents and students to know that they do have rights because obviously the school board and authority figures have not made that very evident and they've taken them away. So I think that it's really important to us for people to be educated more than anything.”
Her father adds that “the purpose of this fight is to restore the power to the people. The claim is solely based on the rights of our health care access granted to us by the Wyoming Constitution and the rights of the parents and each and every student."