To the editor:

Clarifying a mask mandate lawsuit, Alexandria City Public Schools and six other school boards published the following statement: “School divisions need to continue to preserve their authority to protect and serve all our students, including our most vulnerable, who need these mitigation measures perhaps more than anyone to be able to continue to access in-person instruction.”

Many of your readers likely fail to see the difference between the authority to mandate masks with the lack of authority to mandate school resource officers: Both appear to “protect and serve all our students.” Why is it that ACPS must defer to city and state government over SROs but demands independence when masking students? Aren’t masks and SROs both the prudent course if safety is the priority?

-Keith Anderson, Alexandria