Well, that didn’t last long. U.S. District Court Judge Ronnie Greer on Monday dismissed a lawsuit filed by Unmask Knox County Kids, a nonprofit organized by Mayor Glenn Jacobs and state Rep. Jason Zachary.
Greer gave plaintiffs the right to refile if they comply with applicable law. The brusque order dismissing the lawsuit is here: Greer Order (Thanks to social media posting by Chyna Brackeen.)
But masks in schools could be gone this week.
Judge Greer ordered federal mediation between the school board and the parents of kids with special needs who brought the original suit. He said the mediation must be wrapped up within 60 days. Meanwhile, Deputy Law Director Gary Dupler told the school board Monday that the plaintiffs had agreed to file jointly with the board to ask the judge to suspend his initial order, pending the outcome of the mediation.
Board members didn’t even wait until their scheduled meeting on Wednesday. They announced an emergency called meeting to follow Monday’s workshop. Mike McMillan cautioned delay, but Susan Horn said, “It won’t come as a shock to the community that this board wants kids out of masks as soon as possible.”
Earlier in the workshop, Betsy Henderson lashed out at Law Director David Buuck, saying he was uninformed and unprepared for the federal court filing that led to Judge Greer’s initial mask mandate. Henderson said the law department has been “reactive.”
Buuck first asked Henderson to slow down and ask one question at a time. Then he pointed out the school board is the defendant in that lawsuit. It’s the nature of defendants to be “reactive.”
But then Buuck added, “We are dead set against a judge telling us what to do.” Uh, David, it’s the nature of judges to do that.
Expect the fireworks to continue Wednesday when the board meets at 5 p.m. Henderson is bringing a motion to have “things return to normal” in the schools. She said schools are enforcing Covid-related issues differently and implied that some administrators might use the Covid excuse to exclude parents from school involvement.