RIDOH Proposed Rule - MASKING IN SCHOOL

BARRINGTON PARENTS UNITED (BPU) issues Call to Action for public comment on Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) Proposed Rule - MASKING IN SCHOOL

Barrington Parents United is taking part in an effort to call all Rhode Islanders and United States citizens to deliver official public comment in response to RIDOH Proposed Rule 216-RICR-30-05-04 - Masking in School. The rule was filed by the state February 2, 2024 and is scheduled for hearing on March 15, 2024, 9:00am at One Capitol Hill, Providence, RI 02806.

According to the state posted language, “The Rhode Island Department of Health is proposing to adopt Masking In School (216-RICR-30-05-04) for the purpose of publicly setting forth the rationale for a masking requirement in the event a future masking requirement is promulgated by the Rhode Island Department of Health for students in grades Kindergarten through twelve in Rhode Island.”

BPU reported previously that the effects of masks on children were found to have caused irreparable harm, by a Rhode Island Superior Court decision in Southwell v. McKee. Since that time, and as a result of more than two years of litigation, settlement of the case provides the public and parents of harmed children with an unprecedented opportunity to hold accountable the state regulatory body who harmed their children and did so while bypassing the legal regulatory rule-making procedure.

At this time, it’s BPU’s understanding that no other such law suit or settlement exists anywhere else in the United States, whereby a state department of health is compelled by court decision to abide by legal process in order to defend the harm they imposed on children through mask mandates. RIDOH initially released the rule to plaintiffs with part 4.3.B. stating, “An absence of scientific evidence regarding the effectiveness of face masks against a specific pathogen will not prevent the Department from considering a face mask requirement.” Attorney Gregory Piccirilli, Esq., on behalf of plaintiffs, argued to RIDOH that it was not part of the settlement and, when finding them unresponsive to his questioning, was forced to file a motion of contempt of court on behalf of plaintiffs. The department has since retracted this part of the rule.

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