Blaine school board asks county officials to listen to parents against mask and vaccine mandates

In a letter sent September 7 to Whatcom County elected representatives, the Blaine school board requested county officials listen to community members against the state’s mask and vaccination mandates. The letter comes after 15 parents voiced their concerns at the August 23 school board meeting about the state mandates requiring students to wear masks and K-12 staff to get fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

The letter was addressed to state senator Doug Erickson (R-Ferndale) and state representatives Alicia Rule (D-Blaine) and Sharon Shewmake (D-Bellingham). It said the new mandates are causing parents to withdraw students from school and that the Blaine community was being divided and eroded by the removal of power of the board to make local decisions. The letter goes on to request that representatives consider the concerns of all their constituents to ensure proper legal government function.

“Our community members and our school board are asking that the legislators listen to the citizens of Washington and Whatcom County regardless of their political affiliation. Many of those who are speaking out on this topic are from different ends of the political spectrum, but they do not feel like they are being heard and included in the decision making,” the letter reads.

The letter said the board also heard from community members via email who support the mask mandates.

Two weeks before the start of the 2021-22 school year governor Jay Inslee issued a mandate requiring all state educators and support staff to be fully vaccinated and required staff and students, regardless of vaccination status, to wear a mask in public indoor settings.

Following the mandates, 15 parents spoke at the August 23 meeting as a crowd of about 50 parents and community members assembled outside of the Blaine High School cafeteria to protest the mandates. Before the meeting began, board president Charles Gibson addressed the crowd.

“We want to be able to communicate your concerns to those who can do something about this,” he said. “We are elected officials; we have certain limitations we have to adhere to. We cannot change the law.”

Gibson added if the board and administration do not comply with the governor’s orders, the district would lose funding.

Ryan Swinburnson of Swin Law LLC, who graduated from Blaine High School, told board members during the public comment period that while they may not be able to disobey the mandates, there are other things they could do to address the concerns of parents who want their children back in the classroom without masks.

He said the board could ask representatives from the health department, superintendent’s office and governor’s office to attend the meetings to explain the necessity and impact the use of masks will have; could work with other school districts to push back on the governor’s mandates and have him release his emergency powers; and have an extra meeting a month dedicated as a work session to work on these issues.

“That’s what you should be doing, putting pressure on the elected officials above you,” Swinburnson said. “You are the elected officials, so we are here putting pressure on you since you were elected.”

More than a handful of speakers told the board they were pulling their children out of Blaine schools, while others who spoke said they were already home-schooling their kids.

Blaine school district superintendent Christopher Granger said in response to the school board’s letter that he thought the board saw it necessary to relay the concerns of its constituents to the appropriate elected officials who have a voice at the state level. He said the mandates are out of the school board’s control and that the letter was “attempting to model where those concerns should be voiced.”