CEO with ties to anti-maskers resigns from Johnson County health care staffing firm
Brian Cleary, CEO of a Johnson County company that deploys health care workers for emergencies across the country including the COVID-19 pandemic, has resigned after receiving backlash over his ties to a growing anti-mask group.
Overland Park-based Krucial Staffing announced in a news release on Friday that the company has accepted Cleary’s resignation, “in light of events outside our business.”
“Obviously being in the healthcare staffing business, we understand the importance of masks in hospitals and any medical setting. As a company we work to ensure that all our healthcare personnel have the best protective equipment to keep them safe in their working environment,” company officials wrote.
Cleary was in the media earlier this year, saying that Krucial Staffing had recently seen a large increase in demand for health care workers as the delta variant causes COVID-19 cases to surge around the country. The business has been booming as it temporarily sends nurses and health care workers to struggling hospitals across the country.
But some Johnson County residents have raised concerns about Cleary’s intentions and his ties to a prominent anti-mask group, Mask Choice 4 Kids, which was apparently started by his 19-year old son, Jacob Cleary. The teen has said on the group’s Facebook page that he is away at college.
Cleary has faced much criticism for the group promoting anti-mask rhetoric while he profits in the health care industry. Public health experts agree that masks are an effective and reasonable tool to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, and are especially important in schools as students are back in classrooms full time.
The Star was not immediately able to reach Cleary for comment.
The group, labeled a “youth organization” on Facebook, has nearly 5,000 followers. Its page advocates for parents to have the “choice to wear masks in school” and states that, “We are not anti-mask, anti-vaxxers or anti-anything, just pro choice and freedom!”
Mask Choice 4 Kids has put up signs protesting mask mandates around Johnson County, including in front of schools, in recent days. Leaders have promoted events aimed at letting students go mask-free despite rising numbers of COVID-19 cases among children. And it has encouraged students and families to wear the group’s T-shirts in schools and around the community.
The group even has encouraged students to defy their school district’s COVID-19 mitigation policies. Every Tuesday, the organization urges students to take off their masks during the first period of the school day to “peacefully disrupt the educational system.”
After The Star unsuccessfully reached out to Cleary for comment earlier this week, his son announced on Facebook that he was stepping down from the group.
The teen said that Tana Goertz, a well-known ally of former president Donald Trump and past runner-up on “The Apprentice” TV show, would be taking over.
Earlier this week, Cleary posted in a separate Facebook group, made up of families in the Blue Valley district, that his son had the idea for Mask Choice 4 Kids, “then a bunch of parents have run with it.”
“Follow us on social media, we are going to be having a rally outside of the next board meeting” on Monday, saying that he expected up to 1,000 people to attend. The Blue Valley district requires everyone to wear masks in school buildings.
Officials with Krucial Staffing said in the release that since Cleary’s resignation “is a personnel decision, we have nothing further to say regarding this matter.”
“We have a single focus at Krucial Staffing: Identify and hire the best healthcare personnel to provide the highest level of care to people who need it. We ask our staff to keep that focus in mind as they go about their work each day.”
The company, incorporated in 2019, had previously listed Cleary as a part-owner in documents filed with the state. It is unclear whether Cleary will maintain any ownership in the company.
This story was originally published September 10, 2021 at 12:24 PM.
