Despite the extremely low risk of serious harm from COVID-19 for those under the age of 18, and much of the population now having access to multiple virus vaccines, schools in Murfreesboro and Rutherford County have still not budged in their requirement for students to wear facial coverings while at school.

To some, masks have become as much of a political statement as a medical device over the past year, and critics say wearing facial coverings—more specifically, someone being forced by an authority figure against their will to wear a facial covering—is dehumanizing, unethical and unnecessary.

Many local parents have reported that their kids have experienced various physical and mental side effects from wearing a mask at Rutherford County and Murfreesboro schools.

“Two of my kids have broken out in rashes,” Natalie Faith King said.

Amber Augustine said she believes her daughter’s asthma symptoms are made worse by wearing a mask all day, while Allison Gibbs has noticed her child having more frequent headaches.

These and other local parents would like to see the school board consider making the wearing of masks optional or recommended, but not mandated for all.

Some say, in the instance of facial coverings, that individuals and their parents should have the right to choose what to do with their bodies.

Supporters of forcing schoolchildren to wear facial coverings all day offer clichéd talking points about “following the science” and the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but according to science, the threat that COVID-19 poses to children ages 5–18 is almost nonexistent.

“This pandemic . . . does seem to spare kids in a dramatic way,” said Larry Steinman, a professor of pediatrics and neurology at Stanford University School of Medicine.

According to stats from the CDC itself, 460,234 deaths in the United States between Jan. 1, 2020, and Feb. 13, 2021, involved COVID-19.

Only 72 of those 460,234 individuals were between the ages of 5 and 18.

Meanwhile, reports of harm from masks, including rashes, breathing difficulty, problems with communication and psychological issues, have become common among students. Some of the science points to the conclusion that, at least for ages 5–18, wearing masks may do more harm than good.

Additionally, the CDC, health departments and even the Tennessee Department of Education have been cautious to issue their opinions on masking as “recommendations” not “requirements.”

Even the CDC hesitates to “recommend” that students wear masks when they are more than six feet away from one other or at recess or PE, it simply suggests that individuals “consider” the use of the covering.

Many Rutherford County parents would like a straight answer on why the local school district has taken these “recommendations” a step farther and turned them into “requirements.”

“Our school board is disgusting,” local parent Adam Williams said. “It’s like the Spiderman meme, everyone pointing fingers at everyone else.”

The local school boards made the decision to require masks, but frustrated parents say that when they ask why, they will deflect to other authorities: something the governor said, what the CDC or the county mayor said, or something a scientist said. Ultimately, authorities such as these do not mandate the school board to decree that all students wear masks; that was a decision the board members themselves made for the district.

Maury and Wilson Counties do not require their students to wear masks.

Coffee and Williamson Counties now face lawsuits over their school face covering policies.

“I have received multiple phone calls from teachers complaining my kids take their mask down below their noses to breathe sometimes and they are not allowed to do that,” Rutherford County parent Christopher Blake Whitaker said. “My kids tell me the only mask break they get is in the bathroom. I thought they were supposed to get multiple breaks throughout the day.”

Jay Hill, another area parent, said he is concerned that if it were up to Rutherford County Schools, “Our children’s faces will never see the light of day again.”

The “emotional stress” that kids experience from a school system that forces them to mask up, even when science has demonstrated that COVID-19 poses such a low risk to those ages 5 to 18, is “absolutely real,” Hill said.

“I believe public opinion and the science has changed in support of making the masks an option instead of a requirement,” Hill said.

In the eyes of Hill, Williams and some other parents, now more than ever, they see Rutherford County and Murfreesboro schools as promoting obedient submission above fostering civil, intelligent, scientific debate.

While many like-minded parents locally can feel somewhat helpless when trying to get their voices heard, many have rallied behind an organization called Tennessee Stands.

“They are the spear of the resistance,” Hill said.

Hill said that he originally intended to file a lawsuit against the local school board, but had trouble raising funds and found that local attorneys did not seem willing to offer much of a discount to take up this local fight for freedom.

The Tennessee Stands group has nonetheless taken on the fight against forced masking at a statewide level.

“We demand that county mayors, health departments and county school boards cease and desist from continuing to issue unconstitutional orders and/or regulations based on illegitimate delegated authority and restrain themselves to performing their lawful duties,” according to a statement issued by Tennessee Stands, part of its efforts to “preserve the dignity, rights and liberties of the people of this State.”

Tennessee Stands, in addition to opposing mandatory face coverings in schools, also protests the forced closures of restaurants, gyms and other businesses, mask mandates at the county level, government officials deeming which businesses are “essential” or “non-essential,” and stay-at-home orders, saying executive authorities issue these orders in opposition to the inalienable, God-given rights of the people. The organization wants Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to “cease and desist from continuing to execute orders with a supposed force of law as these actions are expressly prohibited by our Tennessee Constitution,” which he took an oath to uphold, a constitution that—as Tennessee Stands founder Gary Humble likes to point out—Thomas Jefferson called the “least imperfect” of all state constitutions.

“Our liberties are at no time up for negotiation. They shall be forever retained by the people,” the Tennessee Stands statement continued.

Humble and those backing Tennessee Stands promote the idea that the Tennessee Constitution gives power to the governor only to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed,” and not to exercise powers belonging to others.

They say in no way should school boards and executive orders dictate personal health decisions and what sort of medical devices people must use.

“I do not ever see myself giving in to the medical tyranny around us,” Hill said.

Beyond the mask orders, Hill said potential vaccine orders pose an even greater concern and seem like the next step of government officials determining health decisions by decree.

“The mask paves the way and laid the framework for medical guidance outside of law,” Hill said.

Call to Vice Mayor Results in Police Visit

Local schools requiring children to wear a mask affects some families on a very deep level.

“Tennessee Stands makes some wonderful arguments,” local parent Adam Williams said. He wants to see local people move from debating and complaining about the mask issue online to actively demanding change from local officials, businesses and organizations.

In August, Williams tried to help facilitate this change, but his calls to the Rutherford County Mayor’s office resulted in a police visit to his house.

“This mask order is ridiculous; science doesn’t support it,” Williams told Steve Sandlin, deputy to the Rutherford County mayor. “I had to pull my son out of school. My son’s not going to wear a mask.”

Although the school board can make policies independent of the county mayor’s office, some feel the county executive order requiring facial coverings encouraged the area school boards to take hard-line stances on the matter.

The call started with a somewhat adversarial tone. Williams did not want to give his name, and after a few minutes descended into calling Sandlin a “petulant child,” “typical politician,” “draconian dictator” and a “loser.”

“If I’m going to talk you’re going to listen . . . you work for me,” Williams said as he questioned Sandlin’s “mental fortitude” and speculated that the mayor’s office is “buying into some sort of trauma-induced mind control.”

The conversation covered all sorts of topics from those who never took a virus test receiving notification of a positive test, mob movies, welders masks, people who perished in car wrecks being counted as COVID deaths, and fruits and goats testing positive for COVID-19.

“I bet you don’t know much of anything,” Williams told the Rutherford County mayor’s deputy.

Rutherford County Deputy Mayor Steve Sandlin with Mayor Bill Ketron; photo courtesy wgnsradio.com.

At one point during the call, Sandlin suggested that the police come pay the caller a visit.

“Send ’em on over,” Williams said, and soon thereafter, sheriff’s officers did indeed show up at his house.

Williams said that, although he called the county mayor’s office more than once in an effort to express his position to the administration, and that the conversation with Sandlin did get heated, he had absolutely no intention to harm or threaten anyone and the police coming to his home was not necessary, and quite possibly an abuse of power by a county official.

He wanted good reasons why the county wanted to extend a mask order, and referenced plenty of concerns about virus numbers and concerns about liberty.

According to the incident report filed by officers Brian Gonzales and Steven Craig, after Sandlin contacted the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office, “based on the investigation, it was determined there was no current threat to the mayor or his staff.”

Though in the course of exploring the filing of an ethics complaint, Craig stated that some of the comments in the call could have been construed as threatening.

“I don’t know which Sgt. Craig to believe, the one who said I am a threat, or the one who said I am not a threat,” Williams said.

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Mask photo (top) courtesy of Anna Shvets / Pexels