More parents challenging CCSD mask mandate in federal court

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Yasmina Chavez

Elena Choi, 5 years old, puts on her mask as she starts kindergarten during the first day of school at the new Hannah Marie Brown Elementary School in Henderson, Monday, Aug. 9, 2021.

Thu, Sep 23, 2021 (9:32 a.m.)

Another set of parents has sued the Clark County School District in federal court to eliminate its coronavirus pandemic mask mandate. They want $200 million in damages and criminal charges for top district officials.

Fourteen plaintiffs, with 18 children between them, said in the suit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas that the school board and CCSD Superintendent Jesus Jara “blatantly and maliciously” violated the Constitution with the requirement.

“Plaintiffs' children have constitutionally protected interests in the benefits that come from them not being subject to the Board’s mask mandate, including the ability to pursue an education without being subjected to health risks that are not offset by any scientifically provable benefits,” the parents argue in the complaint.

The parents, who are representing themselves, claim violation of due process rights and allege that Jara and the school board committed felony threats “to injure a person” because masks have been “scientifically proven” to cause physical and mental harm.

To support their argument that masks harm children, the parents cite the results of a German survey published in a pediatrics journal that included critical caveats on the study’s “methodological deficiencies” and bias.

The parents also say the district failed to respond to an “affidavit of maladministration” that one of the plaintiffs, Bonnie Taylor, delivered at the Aug. 12 school board meeting as a cease and desist demand.

The parents not only ask the court to do away with the mask mandate but award them $200 million in damages and “each defendant held accountable for violating the public’s trust to the fullest extent of the law of no less than category C felony.”

The case was filed in civil court.

This lawsuit is separate from a federal suit that two parents filed last month challenging Nevada’s mask mandate. That case, which targets CCSD, Gov. Steve Sisolak and state Attorney General Aaron Ford, seeks to invalidate the mask directive Sisolak issued for students and school employees, regardless of vaccination status. It also claims that mask mandates cause psychological distress to kids and violate parental rights and due process requirements.

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