Unmask Knox County Kids v. Knoxville County Board of Education

Nonprofit Files Lawsuit Against Knoxville County Board of Education for Implementing Mask Mandate on Children

Knoxville, Tenn. –Unmask Knox County Kids, a nonprofit representing students, parents, teachers, has filed suit against the Knoxville County Board of Education to stop a court ordered mask mandate on schoolchildren in the district.

“For the parents of four children to feel like they have the authority to force nearly 60,000 students in all K-12 schools across the greater Knoxville area to wear masks is an outrageous demand,” said Angie Goethert of Unmask Knox County Kids. “The students, parents, teachers and educational professionals who we are representing feel that this mask mandate has had detrimental effects on learning outcomes, physical health, and mental health for students.”

The lawsuit comes after a federal judge ordered the school district to enforce mask wearing after the parents of four children successfully sued the district saying that their children needed a mask mandate to safely attend school. Unmask Knox County Kids has requested the presiding judge on the case return these educational decisions back to the elected branches.

Unmask Knox County Kids (UKCK) is an unincorporated nonprofit association of teachers, parents, students, and professionals of Knox County who believe that mask-wearing throughout the school day hurts children’s intellectual, speech, and emotional development. Created in 2022, UKCK works to fight for the rights of students and parents to wear a mask or not.

Plaintiff UKCK, along with other concerned parents, are being represented by Dhillon Law Group, a leading law firm who is known for representing and winning constitutional cases all over the country.

“Children have been shown to be the least vulnerable to severe symptoms of COVID-19,” said Harmeet Dhillon, of Dhillon Law Group. “Time and time again, evidence has shown that cloth masks do little to nothing in protecting the wearer from contracting COVID-19 and act as a false sense of security. The school district has been ordered by a judge to enforce this mandate at the behest of four parents who feel justified in holding tens of thousands of students, teachers and administrators hostage. This is a blatant overreach of power and needs to be rectified. Dhillon Law Group is proud to represent Unmask Knox County Kids.”

The Dhillon Law Group on behalf of Unmask Knox County Kids is asking the Court to immediately grant Knox County School Children relief from forced masking.

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