Two Platte County school districts and the City of Kansas City are named in a lawsuit filed this week targeting COVID-19 masking requirements.
The Park Hill School District and its board of education and the Platte County R-3 School District and its board were named in the 74-page suit filed in Missouri’s Western District U.S. Court. The City of Kansas City, mayor Quentin Lucas and several other districts, including Smithville, as well as the City of North Kansas City are also named. The suit was filed by Northland attorney Kevin Corlew, who served four years as the state representative for district 14 in Clay County.
Newly-formed non-profit Northland Parent Association filed the suit in the wake of a decision by Gov. Mike Parson to end the state’s previous state of emergency and implement a narrowed definition of the pandemic state of emergency.
“Schools have failed to consider that mask mandates disproportionally impact younger students, English learner students and students with special needs,” said Northland Parent Association president Jay Richmond in a press release. “The policies do not permit medical or religious exemptions and contribute to a negative learning environment. COVID-19 transmission rates among children are low and we must stand up and protect our children against government overreach and keep parents at the center of their children’s care.”
There are 20 counts alleged in the suit, ranging from violation of state religious freedom protections, unauthorized practice of medicine, failure to follow proper procedure before implementing policy, violation of the state equal protection clause and violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Various counts are alleged against specific school districts based upon their individual policies, with some including all defendants.
The suit notes that neither the Clay nor Platte county health departments have issued masking mandates. Both health departments have issued recommendations that all students be masked in schools, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control. The Platte County Health Department issued its recommendation on Aug. 5, stating, “universal masking for all teachers, staff, students, and visitors to schools, regardless of vaccination status.”
Both Park Hill and Platte County R-3 are accused of not allowing for religious, medical or conscientious objections to masking and that administrators are allowed arbitrary discretion to either allow or deny exemptions.
The court is asked to, in part, “Declare all defendants’ mask mandates and the school defendants’ mask exemption policies and quarantine policies to be unlawful, unreasonable, arbitrary, capricious, abuses of discretion, and unconstitutional under the U.S. Constitution and the Missouri Constitution, as alleged.”
Injunctive orders blocking mask mandates, quarantine policies and mask exemption policies are also requested, as well as damages and attorney fees.
The Northland Parent Association was formed earlier this month, announcing the launch of its website, northlandparentassociation.com, via Facebook on Sunday, Aug. 15. Parents may join this new association for $25 per year and are encouraged to submit mask stories. The website contains a link to a Gofundme page, which has raised nearly $4,000 as of press time, as well as a link to a Venmo account and bank information.
The website states, in part, “We have trusted our schools to have our children’s best interest in mind, but they have failed us. It’s time to have a voice in our children’s education. We will no longer sit on the sidelines. The Northland Parent Association is a way for us to build a strong coalition that the schools cannot ignore.”