the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, The Governor signed Executive Order (EO) 251, which will mandate masking in the indoor premises of all public, private, and parochial preschool, elementary, and secondary school buildings, with limited exceptions. The EO is effective on Monday, August 9, 2021.
Now that the government schools are reopening, the mask mandate fight is being fought in local school districts between parents, health officials, and educators.
As we reported yesterday, the United States is an extreme outlier on this issue. We think the data is clear that student masking confers no statistically significant benefit that would justify its disruption to normal school life for kids. But feelings are deep enough on both sides of the issue to create headaches for every school administrator in America.
So why not let parents choose between schools with the mask policies they prefer? (For that matter, why not let them choose any school that best suits the needs of their kids, period?)
The polling data supports this policy. Corey DeAngelis, the national director of research at the American Federation for Children, reports:
“A nationwide poll by Echelon Insights in August found that 79% of respondents with an opinion support allowing families to take their children’s taxpayer-provided education money to a private or home school if their public school doesn’t mandate masks. Surprisingly, Democrats favored this school-choice proposal more than Republicans, with support at 82% and 78%, respectively.”
To any children who may be reading this story, no one has a right to force you to wear a muzzle. You don’t have to do it, but you don’t have to resist alone. Do it together. Non cooperation, civil disobedience is demanded of you at this time. What you do right now in the face of this tyranny will define your future.
School choice is the best way to destroy the corrosive power of the teachers unions and provide sound education to our youth.
Notice that the usual “this time of year” self congratulatory NJEA ads are beginning to appear.
When will Murphy appear in one?
These poor kids are going to be so F-ed up.