Judge Greer Denies Knox Board Of Education’s Appeal To End Mask Mandate
Photo Credit: The Greeneville Sun
The Tennessee Conservative – [By Jason Vaughn]
Judge Ronnie Greer has once again denied appeals from the Knox County Board of Education and Governor Bill Lee to overturn his ruling that required Knox County Schools implement a restrictive and universal mask mandate.
WBIR reports that Greer, U.S. District Court Judge for the Eastern District of Tennessee, has denied yet another motion to stay his injunction pending appeal over his late September ruling that required Knox County Schools to reimplement its 2020 mask mandate.
It is reported that Greer made the ruling after parents of medically-compromised children sued the school board and Governor Lee over the “lack of COVID-19 precautions” to accommodate their children, citing the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
Greer’s ruling blocked Governor Lee’s Executive Order 84 from being applicable in Knox County. The executive order allows parents/guardians to opt their children out of any mask mandate at school, on school buses and at school functions.
The Knox County Board of Education’s appeal argued that the court commandeered the board’s authority by ordering the reimplementation of the universal mask mandate for students and staff of Knox County Schools and claimed that Greer’s mandate was not a “reasonable accommodation” under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Greer’s opinion differed, stating that the Board of Education’s reasoning was ineffectual and claimed the ADA permits the court to step in to address discriminatory effects of “benign actions or inaction” by the Board or Education after it voted in early September not to adopt a mask mandate.
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“This judge has interpreted the ADA in such a way that moves beyond the schools and into every sector of society without the need for an emergency to exist and regardless of the contagion, communicable disease, or health issue at hand. The burden is no longer on the place of public accommodation to provide a reasonable accommodation to the disabled, but now on every individual, in this case, by complying with a mask mandate,” Gary Humble of Tennessee Stands said.
Greer’s original ruling only allowed exemptions to the mask mandate for individuals with autism or a tracheotomy.
His revised ruling, which came down in mid October, was a bit more lenient allowing more documented medical exemptions to the mandate and allowing a return to last year’s mandate policy but with an additional step.
Greer demanded that the Board of Education must submit a monthly list to the court that includes all the exempt individuals’ full names and “the specific reasons for their exemptions.”
Greer claimed that his ruling restored the “status quo” to meet ADA standards and accommodate the injunction until a trial could be held to discuss the worthiness of a lawsuit.
WBIR reports that Governor Lee stated that Greer misapplied legal principles in his ruling to block Executive Order 84 in Knox County and argued that parents who filed the lawsuit did not demonstrate that measures other than mask mandates were ineffective.
The Board of Education argued that Knox County Schools were already meeting ADA accommodations by implementing three-feet of social distancing whenever possible, intense cleansing protocols, classroom hand sanitizer and was recommending mask usage.
The arguments fell on deaf ears, however, as Greer stated that the evidence showed that the Board of Education’s “slack enforcement” of social distancing measures did not meet the plaintiff’s needs.
Greer’s ruling stated, “The evidence clearly established that the Knox County Board of Education’s accommodations simply could not be effective without a mask mandate.”
In his ruling, he cited the testimony of two local doctors who offered the opinion that universal mask-wearing was the primary method of mitigating the spread of COVID.
Greer went on to state that Governor Lee had failed to present any evidence that refuted the doctor’s opinions.
As reported by WBIR, the Knox County school board is now bringing its appeal up to a higher court, hoping for a favorable ruling by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati to block the preliminary injunction.
On Tuesday, the Board of Education filed a short notice of appeal asking the appellate court to toss out Judge Greer’s ruling.
About the Author: Jason Vaughn, Media Coordinator for The Tennessee Conservative ~ Jason previously worked for a legacy publishing company based in Crossville, TN in a variety of roles through his career. Most recently, he served as Deputy Directory for their flagship publication. Prior, he was a freelance journalist writing articles that appeared in the Herald Citizen, the Crossville Chronicle and The Oracle among others. He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor’s in English-Journalism, with minors in Broadcast Journalism and History. Contact Jason at news@TennesseeConservativeNews.com
It’s a shame that politics has entered the judicial system in America today. The courts can offer opinions not make laws. That because a few people with disabilities can dictate what the rest of society has to do is not right also. You try to accommodate the ones with the disabilities, you don’t force restrictions on the rest of society. Example years ago there was this boy who had to live his life in a bubble because his immune system was so weak and compromised if he didn’t he would die. Under judge Greer’s ruling and reasoning we would all have to live in a bubble. Sometimes a person has to really look at life with common sense. Which is pretty much nonexistent in our society any more. As shown by this judges decision.
In GOD we trust
As a Californian seeking to flee from the insanity over here and looking into moving to the Knoxville area, this is pretty angering. What a powertripping judge, demanding a list of names and medical reasons of kids who want to be exempted! Talk about privacy violations.
Are your judges elected? It would be great to get rid of activist judges like this that think it’s their job to force everyone into submission for discredited “science” about masks and then demand lists of the names of those who aren’t “complying.”
If those parents don’t like other people living their normal lives, then they should put their own kids in N95’s. If it’s good enough for the hospital staff, it should be good enough for them.
Also, too bad that there wasn’t any expert testimony showing numerous studies that indicate mask mandates don’t show any benefit in the real world, and tend to *increase* respiratory illnesses. ( https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/do-masks-actually-work-the-best-studies-suggest-they-don-t/ar-AANfurl )
Best wishes for the next level of appeal.