COLUMBIA, Mo. (CN) — Missouri’s Republican attorney general on Tuesday continued his legal campaign against mask mandates by filing a class action against a school district in state court.
Attorney General Eric Schmitt, who is also a U.S. Senate candidate, claims making school children wear masks goes against scientific data when it comes to curbing the spread of Covid-19 and is arbitrary and capricious. His lawsuit was filed against the Columbia School District, its board and superintendent in Boone County Circuit Court.
“Forcing schoolchildren to mask all day in school flies in the face of science, especially given children’s low risk of severe illness and death and their low risk of transmission. Additionally, forcing schoolchildren to mask all day could hinder critical development by eliminating facial cues and expressions,” Schmitt said in a statement.
He added, “We filed this suit today because we fundamentally don’t believe in forced masking, rather that parents and families should have the power to make decisions on masks, based on science and facts. I am committed to fighting back against this kind of government overreach. Americans are free people, not subjects.”
The Columbia School District, which serves more than 18,000 students about 120 miles west of St. Louis, announced on Aug. 13 that everyone in school buildings and buses will be required to wear a mask. The decision came four days after the Columbia City Council voted down a citywide mask mandate.
Officials for the Columbia School District did not immediately comment on the lawsuit.
The Missouri State Teachers Association, which represents more than 47,000 educators statewide, spoke out against the lawsuit. MSTA spokesman Todd Fuller said it will force districts to use public dollars to defend themselves instead of on students.
“The lawsuit flies in the face of local control,” Fuller said in a statement. “The governor and the legislature have made clear for more than a year that the decision concerning mask mandates should be left up to local communities and school districts. Without a statewide mandate, districts have decided to make a local decision that is in the best interest of their faculty, staff and most importantly, their students.”
He added, “The attorney general should respect the difficult, local decisions districts are making to remain in person and in the classroom.”
The class action claims school mask mandates are “worse than the disease.” It points out that to date no Missouri child younger than 10 has died from Covid-19, that children are less likely to be hospitalized, that children are less likely to spread the virus and that masks can harm children.
“A study on mask use in 25,930 schoolchildren found that 68% ‘complained about impairments caused by wearing the masks,’ including ‘irritability (60%), headache (53%), difficulty concentrating (50%), less happiness (49%), reluctance to go to school/kindergarten (44%), malaise (42%), impaired learning (38%) and drowsiness/fatigue (37%),’” the complaint states.
The lawsuit is filed as numerous school districts across the nation that have not had mask requirements have had to scale back in-person learning due to Covid-19 outbreaks.
There is concern, and widespread debate, as most Missouri districts return to the classrooms this week.
Schmitt, in his lawsuit, believes the mandates are "neither ‘adequate’ to prevent the spread of disease nor ‘appropriate’ as a disease control measure among K-12 schoolchildren.”
Despite a widely available vaccine, Missouri has become a hotspot for the virus’ resurgence. The delta variant combined with a largely unvaccinated population in the state’s rural conservative southwest, which contains several highly transient summer vacation destinations, has created a deadly cocktail.
Tuesday's class action mirrors claims Schmitt made in lawsuits filed against St. Louis County, St. Louis City, Kansas City and Jackson County over their mask mandates.
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