School Boards & Coronavirus: Political Dysfunction

My daughter’s best friend went to school without a mask earlier this week. She’s in second grade. She’s been wearing masks every day, and for longer each day than most other people in the country. She wears them at school. Then wears them while dancing at a local dance studio. But for one day this week — after the New York supreme court threw out the state’s mask mandate, and before a stay was granted ahead of an appellate court’s taking up the case — she went mask-free in an act of defiance.

And it was this sudden doubt thrown over the mandate that caused me to go to the most recent school-board meeting, and what I saw there was a snapshot of the dysfunction ravaging American politics and culture.

About the Author

Michael Brendan Dougherty

Michael Brendan Dougherty is a senior writer at National Review Online.

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My daughter’s best friend went to school without a mask earlier this week. She’s in second grade. She’s been wearing masks every day, and for longer each day than most other people in the country. She wears them at school. Then wears them while dancing at a local dance studio. But for one day this week — after the New York supreme court threw out the state’s mask mandate, and before a stay was granted ahead of an appellate court’s taking up the case — she went mask-free in an act of defiance.

And it was this sudden doubt thrown over the mandate that caused me to go to the most recent school-board meeting, and what I saw there was a snapshot of the dysfunction ravaging American politics and culture.