KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt has sued the Park Hill, Liberty, Kansas City, North Kansas City, Raytown, Independence, Center, Warrensburg, Hickman Mills, Grandview and Lee's Summit school districts over their mask mandates.
In the lawsuits, Schmitt argues the districts do not have the authority to impose public health orders for their students.
The petitions argue that school districts only have the power to issue health orders that the Missouri General Assembly provides to them. It also argues that masking does not prevent the spread of COVID-19 and actually harms the students.
"Since school districts lack the power to impose mask mandates, like the one at issue here, decisions about masking of children to prevent the spread of COVID-19 are reserved to parents, not to school districts," the suits said.
The Park Hill School District previously had a mask mandate last fall, which expired in December.
The district began 2022 with a mask recommendation, but they later had to bring back masking requirements on Jan. 9 due to the increase in COVID-19 cases.
RELATED | Park Hill School District warns parents of possible closure due to illness among staff
The attorney general is joined in the suit by three parents with children in the Park Hill district.
The Park Hill lawsuit has four counts - declaration that the mask mandate is void; mask mandate is unlawful; the mask mandate is unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious and violation of the Missouri Constitution.
Schmitt also sued the Lee's Summit School District for their mask mandate.
Lee's Summit started the 2021-2022 school year with an indoor mask mandate in all district buildings that lasted until Nov. 18.
At that time, the Board of Education voted to extend the mask mandate for only pre-kindergarten and elementary school buildings until Dec. 21 and allowed masks to be optional in all other buildings.
On Jan. 6, 2022, the board voted to reinstate the masking requirements for all district buildings until Feb. 3 due to the omicron variant.
The Lee's Summit lawsuit has the same four counts as the Park Hill suit.
The Lee's Summit School District previously received a cease and desist letter from the AG that he sent to several other district asking them to repeal their mask mandates.
The district's legal counsel responded to Schmitt with a letter saying the cease and desists, "not only lack legal effect-they are simply wrong."
Legal counsel for the Board of Education told KSHB 41 News that they had previously expressed the district's intention to defend its duty under Missouri law to protect the health and safety of its students and staff. The legal counsel also said they look forward to vindicating their legal position in court.
Schmitt also sued Liberty Public Schools over their mask mandate.
On Dec. 21, 2021, the School Board voted to make masks optional effective Jan. 4, 2022, but they later had to reverse that decision on Jan. 10 due to an increase in COVID-19 cases.
Liberty Public Schools sent a message to staff and families Friday responding to the lawsuit.
"You may have seen earlier today that the Missouri Attorney General's office posted on social media that he has filed lawsuits against several school districts in Missouri, including LPS, stating the need to eliminate several COVID-19 mitigation efforts currently in schools," the message said. "As stated previously, Liberty Public Schools will continue with our current Return to Learn COVID-19 protocols in place until further notice. We will be working closely with our legal counsel to navigate the matter."
Kansas City Public Schools was also sued by the attorney general for their mask mandate.
KCPS requires all students, staff and visitors to wear masks in their buildings. Thedistrict also required all eligible staff to be fully vaccinated by Sept. 30, 2021.
In the facts of the case, Schmitt lists the timeline of the mask mandate in the district, but the attorney general cites North Kansas City Schools' safe return to in-person instruction plan instead of KCPS' plan.
"The Mask Mandate requires students to wear masks while indoors. 'Beginning Monday, January 10, masks will be required for all students, staff and visitors indoors at all NKC Schools facilities," the lawsuit said.
KSHB 41 News asked a spokesperson for the district about the lawsuit, and they said they can't comment on pending litigation.
Schmitt also sued North Kansas City Schools for its mask mandate.
The North Kansas City Council voted in a 6-1 decision earlier this month to extend its mask mandate until Feb. 5 for students who attend school within in their boundaries.
"Council voted 6-1 this evening to extend the current mask order impacting K-12 in the city of North Kansas City to Feb. 5," North Kansas City Mayor Bryant DeLong wrote on Twitter. "In-person education is critical to our students and I believe masking is one mitigation measure we can take to help keep our schools open."
Not all of North Kansas City Schools are within the North Kansas City boundaries, so this order only impacts North Kansas City High School and Briarcliff Elementary.
In response to the city council's vote, the district required masks to be worn in all school facilities starting on Jan. 10.
RELATED | North Kansas City missing 300 teachers Friday due to COVID-19
The attorney general has brought a similar suit against the Raytown C-2 School District, which put a mask mandate in place on Jan. 11 to last until Feb. 15.
Independence School District also joined the list of districts being sued by Schmitt Friday afternoon.
The district implemented a temporary mask mandate, which began on Jan. 18, because of staffing struggles and difficultly finding substitutes.
Later Friday afternoon, Schmitt announced lawsuits against the Center School District, Warrensburg R-VI School District and Hickman Mills C-1 School District for their mandates.
Warrensburg had to cancel classes for Thursday and Friday due to inclement weather and increased staff and student absences. The district also had to go virtuallast Friday due to staff absences.
Around 4:45 p.m., Grandview C-4 School District joined the list of schools Schmitt sued over masking requirements.
According to the district's website, masks and personal protective equipment are required for everyone while indoors due to local mandates.
Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Quinton Lucas responded to the attorney general's lawsuits Friday saying that the suits were a "clear but unsurprising political stunt."
"The majority of them [the districts] have school buildings in our city, in which our mask rule continues to apply," Lucas said on Twitter. "We will support our schools, our teachers and our students."
Lucas also said that he and the city government will be evaluating all methods to support the districts against the "nuisance litigation."
"Our state lawyer's ongoing harassment of Missouri's schools should be sanctioned by the State Bar," Lucas said.
The attorney general released a statement Friday afternoon regarding his lawsuits.
“Mask mandates in schools are illegal, they simply don’t work and they contribute to alarming and negative psychological impacts on our children," Schmitt said in the statement. "My Office has been on the frontlines of the fight to end the forced masking of children all day in school, and today we took concrete legal action toward that end."
This is a developing story and will be updated.
