QUOTE: Parents challenging Rhode Island’s school mask mandate scored a major court victory last week that will greatly impact how the state handles potential future public health outbreaks.
The legal saga began in September 2021, when several Rhode Island parents filed a complaint in Providence County Superior Court against Democrat Gov. Daniel McKee and Nicole Alexander-Scott, the director of Rhode Island’s Department of Health (RIDOH), over the state’s then-enacted school mask mandate. In response to the Covid outbreak, then-Democrat Gov. Gina Raimondo issued an executive order on March 9, 2020, declaring a state of emergency. From that date until July 2, 2021, Raimondo and McKee — who took office in March 2021 — issued a combined 78 executive orders related to Covid.
While McKee and RIDOH lifted the school mask mandate in March 2022, parties in the case continued to engage in litigation for the next year and a half. On Dec. 12, they agreed to a settlement that commits RIDOH to follow the normal regulatory process and hold public hearings “on whether masking in schools is efficacious and safe.”
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