A San Diego-based parent’s group is vowing to file a motion for reconsideration after a superior court judge dismissed their lawsuit challenging Gov. Gavin Newsom’s mask mandate in public schools.
As previously reported, Let Them Breathe sued the state in July alleging nine causes of action, including a violation of the Emergency Services Act (ESA).
“The request for reconsideration, if it's granted, would be addressed by the same judge, Judge Freeland,” said Sharon McKeeman, founder of Let Them Breathe, a group of some 50,000 parents advocating for mask choice.
“If it's not granted, then it would go to an appellate court. Our focus with the request for reconsideration is that it’s a much quicker process than an appeal. Our kids are suffering. So, we are trying to press the issue as urgently as possible.”
Let Them Breathe is not giving up on their legal pursuit based on the Nov. 12 dismissal because San Diego Superior Court Judge Cynthia Freeland stated in her decision that the state's testing and quarantine guidance are mere recommendations, not mandates.
“They are optional and the schools have discretion and local control in making their own testing and quarantine protocols,” McKeeman told the Southern California Record. “That's something that we knew but we sued over because there have been these defacto mandates put in place. We pushed the issue so that it would be clarified in court and now we're putting out advocacy resources to school districts themselves to let them know that they can adopt a common-sense approach that keeps healthy kids in the classroom.”
McKeeman’s own son, who is in the 5th grade, has missed more than six weeks in school because of quarantine protocols.
“He's falling drastically behind and he's been healthy all of those times he was quarantined,” she said. “He already has had COVID and yet he's just being made to sit at home because of these completely overly restrictive quarantine procedures that the school does not have to be implementing.”
Let Them Breath is preparing to send cease and desist letters to school districts statewide, according to McKeeman.
“This ruling now holds the school districts accountable,” she said. “They are now the ones who could face liability if they're keeping kids from their in-person education unnecessarily. We are next week sending a demand letter to Sweetwater School District based on this issue and that demand letter is something we will then replicate to other school districts that are keeping kids out of school unnecessarily.”
The Sweetwater Union High School District is in Chula Vista.