Bladen County’s Board of Education will have the option on whether students here wear face coverings while in school, or at events.
As it should have been forever.
Gov. Roy Cooper on Wednesday announced that change and, with Dr. Mandy Cohen, gave what he termed strong guidance on how schools should proceed. The Democrat who was overwhelmingly reelected last fall — arguably because of how he and his opponent differed on a virus that didn’t have a vaccine until after the election — has waddled through this pandemic angering as many as he has pleased.
We’re a split state, after all. Democrats, the unaffiliateds, and Republicans constitute a roughly one-third share each of the voting public, and the two major parties have seen things through a political lens throughout. Cooper included.
We had hoped from the outset last March the governor would not make this a political football. Took less than a month for that failure. He got help, and a lot of it, from Washington.
And not just from the former president. It was then-vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris last September who sowed seeds of doubt in vaccinations by saying, “I think that’s going to be an issue for all of us.”
She’s been a lot more right than wrong on that, despite the fact her comment was based on trusting the Republican president rather than an objective observation. Democrats and Republicans alike initially flocked to long lines of hard-to-get vaccine, and then likewise stayed away from easy-to-get vaccine.
For ages 12 and up, it’s there for the taking. And Americans by the millions have decided politicians have no business telling them how to manage their health. That’s for they and their doctors.
Cooper finally gave in Wednesday. But we have no reason to believe it’s because he’s seen the light on individual freedom. He’s guided the state through the pandemic with politics in the front seat driving.
The results have been catastrophic, as bad or worse than COVID-19 itself. Loved ones died alone. Strong people of faith had challenges in their houses of worship, some missing stepping foot inside for more than a year; the threat of lawsuit last spring prevented it from being worse. Businesses closed, yet the unemployed got richer by not working.
And when the state’s General Assembly wanted to incentivize their return to work, Cooper said no and continued to draw down federal dollars for his gimmicky vaccination incentive that hasn’t worked. A million-dollar failure if ever there was one.
We’re glad the face mask requirement for schools and students is back in the hands of the Board of Education for Bladen County. Truth be known though likely only through litigation, it probably could have enacted its policy apart from the governor last year anyway. They didn’t try, and we’ll never know.
The board meets Aug. 9, or sooner if they are called together, and we’re anxious for their decision. The guess here is Chairman Roger Carroll and Superintendent Dr. Jason Atkinson will go along with the state’s tool kit and encourage the rest of the board to do the same. The former is a Democrat, the latter unaffiliated.
But it is the board’s option. As it should have been all along.