Honestly, that’s baffled me from the very beginning. From pre-K through the end of high school, every school I ever attended was positive that it had the uncontested right to tell me which parts of my anatomy had to have a piece of cloth over them, how much the cloth had to cover up, what was printed on the cloth, and so on. So when this all started and the schools made big helpless eyes and said they simply had no authority to require students to wear a piece of cloth over their mouths and noses, I was dumbfounded.
I think it was, for the most part, just cowardice on their part. If they said they had the authority to require masks and did so, they’d be dealing with many outraged anti-mask parents. If they said they had the authority to require masks and did NOT do so, they’d be dealing with many outraged pro-mask parents. If they say they have no authority and just have to defer to the state, it passes the buck and both sets of parents get mad at someone else.
