Johnson County school district is ‘discriminatory’ in its COVID rules, lawyers claim
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COVID-19 safety in schools
For the new school year, as COVID-19 cases are surging and hospitals are turning away patients, Kansas City area districts are making decisions about safety.
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A Johnson County law firm has sent a cease and desist letter to Gardner Edgerton schools, demanding that the district amend COVID-19 protocols it claims are discriminatory and violate Kansas law.
The letter claims the district’s enforcement of quarantine and mask policies discriminates against unvaccinated and unmasked students.
The Olathe firm Kriegshauser Ney Law Group gave the school district until 5 p.m. Friday to respond. The letter, sent Tuesday by attorney Ryan Kriegshauser, could be a precursor to a civil lawsuit.
But Attorney Josh Ney told The Star on Wednesday that “this is less of a threat and more of a request to engage in direct dialogue with the district to make sure the law is followed.”
“We reserve the right to take any action available to us under the law, which could include civil litigation,” he said, or it could include reporting alleged violations to the Office of Civil Rights within the U.S. Department of Education or the Kansas Human Rights Commission.
Gardner Edgerton spokesman Ben Boothe said Wednesday the district has “no comment as of yet as our legal counsel is reviewing the document.”
It’s the latest in a string of legal action taken by the law firm regarding COVID-19 protocols. The same firm is representing a Blue Valley family suing the Johnson County Board of Commissioners over its school mask mandate. And in Morris County southwest of Kansas City, the attorneys represent resident Neil Litke, who is suing officials over the county’s mask order.
Meanwhile several other lawsuits across the region are challenging pandemic health orders. Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt filed a class action lawsuit last month seeking to block school districts statewide from mandating masks. Schmitt had already sued Kansas City, Jackson County and other localities over their mask requirements.
And a new nonprofit group, representing parents in the Northland, is suing seven school districts, along with elected officials in Kansas City and North Kansas City, over their mask mandates and quarantine policies.
Ney said his firm represents several students and parents in the Gardner Edgerton district in southwest Johnson County, but would not say how many or provide names, saying they have asked to remain anonymous.
In the cease and desist letter, the firm argues that the district’s quarantine policies violate state law.
Like other districts, Gardner Edgerton is following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and public health officials to determine when quarantining is necessary. The Johnson County health department works closely with districts to help contact trace and determine when students should be excluded from school after an exposure.
Per health officials’ guidance, the district does not require vaccinated individuals to quarantine after being exposed to the virus, as long as they are asymptomatic and do not test positive. Unvaccinated individuals who were wearing a mask when exposed will not need to quarantine, as long as the person who tested positive also was wearing a face mask.
Unvaccinated and unmasked individuals who are exposed to the virus are required to quarantine.
The law firm argues that the district’s policy violates a provision of Kansas’ general appropriations bill passed by the state Legislature this past spring, which bans any state governmental entity from requiring the public to be vaccinated before entering state facilities or receiving services.
It argues the district is at risk of losing state funding.
The bill prohibits state-appropriated funds from being used to “deny housing or refuse access to a place accessible to the general public, or separate from others in a place accessible to the general public, including entry, education, travel and services within this state, based on such individual’s COVID-19 vaccination status.”
The letter states that because the district receives public funds from state appropriations, it is in violation of the law due to its policy requiring quarantines “(i.e. refuse access to and separate from others) students based on their vaccination status.”
“Moreover, our clients are aware of instances in the district during the current school year where students have been subjected to discriminatory treatment based on their vaccination status. This policy is likely illegal … and must immediately and publicly be rescinded.”
The attorneys said they also sent the letter to the “Attorney General’s Office, State Budget Director, and legislative leadership in the Kansas Senate and House to apprise them of this situation.” And the letter states the attorneys reserve the right to request an audit of the state funds “used in violation” of the law, which could be addressed by “a possible decrease of future funding.”
The firm also claims that the district is violating federal and state anti-discrimination laws by requiring students with medical mask exemptions, who are unvaccinated, to quarantine after an exposure.
And it argues against the district’s enforcement of quarantine and masking policies, claiming that it has led to harassment and bullying.
“We are not seeking to prohibit or burden the ability of local governments and schools to provide a safe environment and control the spread of COVID-19,” Ney said. “We are simply asking that they follow the law when doing that, and that government units enact these types of protocols and policies in the right way, pursuant to law.”
Johnson County’s health order mandates masks in private and public schools serving children as old as sixth grade. After several COVID-19 cases and quarantines, Gardner Edgerton followed the lead of most other Kansas City area districts to require masks at all grade levels.
This story was originally published September 8, 2021 at 3:16 PM.
