Today, Education and Labor Committee Republican Leader Virginia Foxx (R-NC) sent a letter to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra calling for an end to HHS’ interim final rule with comments (IFC) which mandates masking of children as young as two at Head Start programs across the country.
In the letter, Rep. Foxx writes: “The goal of the Head Start program is to provide preschool children from low-income households with a diligent program to meet their nutritional, social, emotional, and psychological needs. Unfortunately, the IFC is directly impeding educational access, and therefore, it is imperative that the rule be rescinded to stop further imminent, detrimental effects to young students.”
The letter continues: “Mandating masking of children is not in line with public health principles and risks significant emotional and physical harm. The early formative years are crucial for lifelong development and for this reason, according to the New York Times, ‘many parents don’t want their young children to be masked, worried that masking could hinder socialization and language development.’”
The letter concludes: “Overall, the contradictory guidance in the IFC will exacerbate significant learning loss and developmental deficits for young children. This rule also only deepens the divide between low-income students and their counterparts. The pandemic and ineffective regulations have combined to create an educational catastrophe of learning loss and student harm, the effects of which risk rippling to countless future generations. This lackadaisical approach to clarifying rules that impact our youngest students perpetuates this tragic trend. Citizens and policymakers should not be forced to ask agencies repeatedly to clarify which of the federal government’s own regulations will be enforced while their children risk falling further and further behind. I implore you to rescind the guidance immediately.”
Original source can be found here.
