Anti-school mask protestors amassed what appears to be their largest protest thus far in Suffolk County at the H. Lee Dennison Building on Friday, February 11.
The event, advertised via social media and word of mouth, saw over 1,000 participants, parents and students. This event came just shortly after Governor Hochul let the indoor mask mandate for businesses expire but continued the mask mandate for schools.
The rally saw many participants involved with Moms for Liberty and Long Island Loud Majority, two groups that frequently hold such events.
What may have seemed like a victory for some against mandates in Hochul’s loosening of restrictions evidently created a pushback by parents (the key constituent group that attends anti-mask rallies).
One factor hurting the justification for the Governor’s decision in the eyes of many rally[1]goers: other blue states, and states of comparable size and vaccination rates, have started to lift their school mandates.
The Governor is utilizing the CDC, which still “recommends schools maintain at least 3 feet of physical distance between students within classrooms, combined with indoor mask-wearing to reduce transmission risk” in her policy formulations.
“They need to learn that they need to stand up for themselves,” said one parent, David Balistreri.
When asked what Balistreri thought of the Governor’s decision to keep the in-school mandate, he said, “she’s a disgrace.”
One speaker of the event, Islip Receiver of Taxes Andy Wittman, said to the crowds, “my 11-year-old daughter was threatened with detention if she took her mask down for a sip of water…this is the society we are living in now.”
Jackie DiLorenzo, another parent who pulled her children out of school, spoke of social frustrations her middle schooler was facing regarding masking. DiLorenzo’s story echoes others from parents of adolescents who have spent two years in alternative learning methods or masks.
The issue of Covid-19 restrictions in schools was a hot-button issue last election cycle and has driven the school board discussion and in school board elections. This has most notably been the case in Smithtown, with other districts around the Island having heated meetings — at times bursting into shouting and name-calling. Outside of local politics, then-candidate Youngkin used school masks, amongst other educational issues, to turn out voters to the polls in the Virginia gubernatorial race. Similar tactics were also used in the incredibly tight New Jersey gubernatorial race the same year.
In our own gubernatorial race this Fall, Congressman, candidate and presumptive GOP nominee Lee Zeldin has used Covid-19 restrictions and school masking in his campaign advertisements and literature. If the issue continues to draw out this many people without a resolution soon, it will likely remain a fixture of our politics for the foreseeable future. Some of the rallygoers also included State Assemblymembers and Senators pushing legislation for the end of the in[1]school mandate. Republicans in the State legislature put forth a bill to do just that and, as expected, did not receive the necessary support from the Democratic majorities to pass.
