A Fairfax County mother has some strong words for the Fairfax County Public School (FCPS) system, accusing them of playing politics after her sons were suspended on dress code violations for not wearing face masks to school.
As reported by Fox News, Lundquist-Arora’s sons were among 24 FCPS students suspended Jan. 25 for failing to wear masks.
“The masks had given them headaches,” Lundquist-Arora told Fox News Digital. “They didn’t like wearing them. So they found them problematic.”
Her two younger boys were suspended for 15 days from Hunt Valley Elementary School, but she said she has “not heard back yet” from the principal about her appeal requests. She appealed her older son’s suspension in an email to Irving Middle School Principal Cynthia Conley, arguing it was inaccurate, misleading, and flew in the face of rights of privacy and political freedom. She was adamant that the school’s action was also in violation of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s, R., Executive Order 2, which requires Virginia schools to allow parents to opt their children out of the mask mandates still in place in some Virginia schools.
Lundquist-Arora argued that based on the state law, he was fully within his right to be maskless and that local dress code mandates do not supersede state law.
Her appeal was denied last week, with the principal writing in the school’s decision that, “due to his refusal to wear a face mask, the dress code violation was recorded and a consequence was given.”
Lundquist-Arora expanded on why she saw the move as political in an interview with Fox News Digital.
“I also think that my sons are being punished for political reasons,” she said.
“We had the audacity to actually exercise our rights under the governor’s order. And they’ve never objected so fervently to anything that Gov. Northam has done in the past. There was never an issue where Gov. Northam would pass an executive order and the school board would say, ‘Oh we’re not listening to that, and we’re going to pass a policy to circumvent that.’ So I think that this is definitely political.”
As for next steps, Lundquist-Arora said she’s going to “pursue legal avenues to fight” and is going to appeal to the state board of education.
“I’m hoping that at the end of the day, justice will prevail and these will be erased,” she said. “That’s all I can do is hope and fight it. This is completely ridiculous.”
Irving Middle School and Fairfax County Public Schools did not immediately comment on the issue, but it’s clear they feel they’re in the right to override Governor Youngkin’s mask orders. Hopefully, this mother and her sons can find some justice down the line, as this seems like a clear case of a school overstepping it’s authority.