A group of parents of disabled students filed a lawsuit
in federal court in Des Moines on Friday, seeking to overturn Iowa’s law prohibiting
schools from requiring masks.

The parents believe that the law puts their children’s
health in jeopardy and denies them equal educational opportunities. They
claim that it essentially excludes individuals from in-person learning in
violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act.

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“Prohibiting schools from taking reasonable steps to
protect the health of their students’ forces parents to make an impossible
choice: their child’s education or their child’s health,” said Susan Mizner,
director of the ACLU’s Disability Rights Program.

Children who are too young to be vaccinated and who have
impairments that render them vulnerable to potentially severe COVID-19
instances, such as a rare organ condition, cerebral palsy, and asthma, are the
subjects of the lawsuit.

Governor Kim Reynolds, Iowa Department of Education
Director Ann Lebo, and numerous school districts, including Des Moines,
Davenport, Ankeny, Waterloo, and Iowa City, are named as defendants.

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The plaintiffs stated that they will seek a temporary
restraining order to prevent the statute from being enforced as soon as
possible.

School boards and superintendents are prohibited from
requiring students and workers to wear masks under the law approved on the last
day of the parliamentary session in May.

The law contradicts CDC guidelines, which suggest that
children and instructors in the classroom wear masks at all times. The CDC
released the advice in response to the fast spread of COVID-19‘s highly
infectious delta form.

The action, which is backed by the ACLU and disability
rights organizations, adds to the legal pressure on the legislation as the
number of viral infections and hospitalizations in Iowa reaches new highs since
last winter.

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The US Department of Education announced this week that
it is investigating whether the Iowa legislation, as well as similar laws in
four other Republican-led states discriminate against children with
disabilities or health problems.