Check out this Fact Sheet to see how this case impacts your child in Virginia Public Schools.
Parents of 12 Virginia public school students whose disabilities make them vulnerable to COVID-19 filed a federal lawsuit challenging Governor Youngkin’s Executive Order 2 and Senate Bill 739 that effectively exclude their children from public schools by forcing them to choose between their education and their health, an untenable choice. Because Governor Youngkin’s Executive Order 2 and Senate Bill 739 completely ban schools from using masking as a COVID-19 prevention strategy, it prevents the local school district’s ability to provide reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities. This ban violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (Section 504), while placing immunocompromised students’ health and safety at risk.
The student plaintiffs attend schools in several districts throughout Virginia and all have disabilities that place them at greater risk of severe illness if they contract COVID-19. These students’ conditions include cancer, cystic fibrosis, moderate to severe asthma, Down syndrome, lung conditions, and weakened immune systems. The CDC states that each of these conditions place individuals at risk for severe COVID-19 illness.
The ADA and Section 504, both federal laws, require that all public schools provide students with disabilities equal access to in-person public education. These laws prevent public schools from excluding or unnecessarily segregating students with disabilities. They also require that schools provide reasonable modifications to policies, practices, and procedures to ensure students with disabilities have an equal opportunity to benefit from public education.
On March 23, 2022, Senior Judge Norman K. Moon of the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Virginia, granted a preliminary injunction for the plaintiffs in this case. The preliminary injunction prohibits the state defendants from enforcing Executive Order 2 or SB 739 against the 10 school districts in which the 12 plaintiffs attend school. This means that if peer masking is a reasonable modification that will ensure equal access to in-person public education for our plaintiffs, state defendants cannot enforce Executive Order 2 or SB 739 to prevent our plaintiffs’ schools from implementing that reasonable accommodation. The injunction is limited to these 12 students; however, it can be used as a guide for any parent of a student with disabilities that place them at high risk of severe illness from COVID-19 to assure their school district can make accommodations when the safety of their child is at stake.
The parents are represented by the ACLU of Virginia, the Washington Lawyers’ Committee, Brown Goldstein & Levy, the disAbility Law Center of Virginia, and Arnold & Porter.
Check out this Fact Sheet to see how this case impacts your child in Virginia Public Schools.