by Guy Page
Gov. Phil Scott supports school mask mandates and believes “we need kids to get vaccinated,” he said Tuesday. Parents who disagree still have personal liberty because they “don’t have to send their kids to school” and can home school or “find another school.”
At the weekly press conference, County Courier (Enosburg) editor Greg Lamoureux asked Scott to comment on Franklin County parents “standing up against the school boards who are implementing your request to have masks mandated for the beginning of the school year.”
“I think it’s perfectly appropriate for kids returning to school to to be masked,” Scott answered. “There’s a a huge population within the schools that haven’t had the ability to be vaccinated, so I think in this situation masking is a good idea.”
“As you remember during the pandemic, we imposed a mass policy as well,” Scott continued. “I believe in personal liberty, but that was a good idea then for us to impose it on the broad population. Hopefully there’ll be a time again when we have enough kids vaccinated where they won’t have to wear masks, but we need kids to get vaccinated as well. We need to have the FDA approve the under-under-11 category so that we can get those kids eligible.”
“I think there is personal liberty,” Scott said. “The parents don’t have to send their kids to school. There’s home schooling. They can find another school. In this case I think it’s perfectly legitimate for the school to impose this.”
A Vermont Daily Chronicle survey of private schools in Vermont shows a mixed response to the state Agency of Education’s guidance on wearing masks in school.
“The guidelines do not mandate universal masking, they suggest,” Vicky Fogg, Head of School at Mid-Vermont Christian School in Quechee, said today. “We are not masking. However, anyone who wants to is supported (staff and student).”
Fogg noted that “we have increased our enrollment compared to last year.”
Other evangelical religious schools also are taking a more laissez-faire approach to masking. The non-religious private schools that responded generally are following masking guidelines.
Cover photo Michael Anderson/Unsplash