Thread by @VoteGloriaJ

THREAD👇: OK folks, time to take a deep breath. Let's talk about masks and schools as an East TN federal judge issued an injunction regarding Gov. Lee's banning of a mask mandate on Friday. I'm going to try to relate some facts for folks.

If you refuse to take the action required by a judges injunction, you can be found in contempt of court and fined or imprisoned.

If you think a judge can't rule on an action by the legislative or executive branch--well then, you must have missed that whole part of the CONSTITUTION where the FOUNDING FATHERS proposed a government where power was...

divided between three separate branches of government: the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judiciary. These are co-equal branches of government. By dividing power into three separate branches, the Founding Fathers hoped to prevent misuse of power.

They also made a clever system of checks and balances to encourage the three branches of government to work together so that the government works for all of the people. (Remember that "ALL the people" part for later.)

Anyway, there are folks out there who are teachers, bus drivers, parents, and others who are saying they will not comply. OK, cool, there are consequences. Kids will be sent home or kept in quarantine in school away from the group.

I would imagine teachers could face losing their jobs as their actions will risk the school system being held in contempt, and parents could end up in truancy court with their kids.

These are the mitigation guidelines KCS operated under last year, it's not new, and we had far better attendance. Why were teachers and bus drivers willing to enforce it a few months ago and not now?

Why do a few teachers claim not to be able to enforce it now? Do they enforce the dress code? Do they let kids vape or smoke in class? Do they let kids come and go as they please? But all of the sudden some of them can't ask a kid to pull up their mask?

It seems to me that we have staff that only want to enforce the policy they agree with. When has that ever been OK in KCS? I remember thinking that fighting the boys and their ballcaps was futile...but we did it every day because that was the rule.

Here is the deal, KCS told everyone they had to come back in class-folks assumed it would be like last year with mitigation. Everyone finds out there is ZERO mitigation. Many teachers and staff are concerned for themselves, their families, and their students.

They come back anyway because they want to be there for the kids. They follow the rules, but they organize, speak up, show up for the health of all in their school community.

They don't kick and scream that they will not comply-they recognize they are pulling together for the benefit of EVERY kid/staff in the community.

Some parents can't send their kids to school because they are immunocompromised, a case of COVID could be deadly for them. For these kids, their instruction is hands on and virtual is not possible. They often see OT/PT, speech, and other specialists at school. They lost that.

We saw deaths in school age kids double from August to September. We saw teachers, TA's, bus drivers, and other staff die as well. We saw staff's family members die when they brought COVID home from a contact in school.

You want to say 20+ kids dying isn't that many? I say take your butt over to those 20+ families who will never see their child again and you tell them that, look in their eyes and tell them that 20+ kids dying in 2 months of school isn't that many. I will wait.

So here is what is at stake--for some kids and staff it's their long term health or possibly their life if we don't wear masks.

If you mask up until more folks are vaccinated and we get the number of cases down to where our hospitals aren't in threat of collapse and we aren't short 292 substitutes each day, then we can think about loosening up on restrictions.

If you wear a mask and we follow mitigation steps, the kids who are missing out on their education can come back to school. (That is the ALL I was referring to earlier.)

The mask doesn't hurt anyone, it may be awkward or uncomfortable, but no one is on a ventilator because of a mask. If you want people to see your kids smile, there are clear-space masks that do that.

Parents have a choice with a mask mandate. They can choose to have their kids mask up and attend with their peers safely, or they can choose no mask and go virtual or do home school. No one is forcing a decision on them, it is a choice. With masks, EVERY parent has a choice.

The worst thing that happens when we wear masks is that its annoying, the worst thing that happens when we don't, is death. I am willing to wear an annoying mask if it keeps my neighbors healthy--it is literally the very least I can do.

This isn't tyranny, it's community. You don't live on an island, what you do affects those around you. Your rights extend until they touch someone else. You have the right to swing your fists all day long until they touch someone's nose.

Go to McKay's books and buy yourself a high school government book and start reading. Go to the families of the kids/staff who died from COVID in the first 2 months of school and tell them what number of deaths will be enough for you to care.

When I say "go virtual" here, I am referring to an actual Virtual school-not KCS virtual.