Fairfax County, Va., directs principals to suspend students who don’t wear masks

On Friday, Jan. 21, 2022, Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Scott Brabrand issued a “Principal Briefing” that orders administrators to suspend students who don’t wear masks to school, according to a copy of the briefing that a whistleblower provided Parents Defending Education.

The edict is in defiance of an executive order by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin giving parents the right to choose whether their children wear masks to school or not.

In the briefing, the school district said:

• In slide No. 12, headlined, “R2109 Regarding Mask Refusal,” the school district instructed administrators: “Continue to follow existing regulations and practices. Any student who refuses to wear a face covering while indoors on school property or during FCPS-provided transportation, and who is not otherwise exempt will be precluded access to face-to-face instructional programming until they comply with the requirements of this regulation.”
• Regarding “Intentional Removal / Refusal to Wear Face Covering,” he said: “Intentional removal of or refusal to wear a face covering during the times face coverings are required by all students will be treated as a violation of the Regulation 2613 (Student Dress Code). This includes indoors on school property and transportation.
• This will result in an “SRR Violation of BSO7 (Dress Code),” and noted: “BSO3 (Refusal to comply with staff requests…) may be used as a secondary infraction code to document refusal despite redirection from staff.” The point has a big “NEW!” graphic beside it.
• The “Response” will be swift with a “1 day OSS,” which means “Out of School Suspension” for students who don’t wear masks. 
• The briefing says: “1 day OSS for an infraction using the new SUS-M suspension code (this process will enable staff to monitor data regarding this unique situation and gives students the ability to return the next day to comply with the regulation).” Slide 12: “1 day OSS,” “OSS” means “Out of School Suspension.” “SUSP” is the typical code for a suspension.