Judge orders Loudoun County Public Schools to end mask mandate immediately

LEESBURG, Va. - A Loudoun County Circuit Court judge ruled late Wednesday to make masks optional for Loudoun County Public Schools immediately. 

Beginning on Thursday, Feb. 17, students can continue to wear masks if they choose to, but masks will not be required. 

In a statement, Loudoun County Public Schools Superintendent Scott Ziegler said, "The decision of whether to wear a mask or not is deeply personal for many families, we ask that you respect the decision of others. No one should be made to feel uncomfortable about their choice." 

The LCPS superintendent also said that any students who have faced disciplinary consequences for choosing to not wear a mask in school will "have that consequence removed from their records.

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Loudoun County School Board meetings have been filled with bitter division -- most recently over mask mandates and the LCPS decision to hold to it, reports FOX 5's Melnaie Alnwick.

One parent -- a frequent critic who has been speaking against the policy since last fall -- is suing. Alnwick says three parents on the lawsuit say their elementary students were harmed by having to wear masks all day in school. After Governor Youngkin's executive order -- they sent their kids to school maskless and the students were suspended.

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Loudoun County is one of the majority of Virginia school systems that kept mask requirements. They say state law required them to follow CDC guidance for safe reopening.

The parents say the suspensions violated their children's rights to education.