KNOX COUNTY, Tenn. — Knox County Board of Education members Betsy Henderson, Susan Horn, and School Board Chair Kristi Kristy appeared at the Knox County Commission meeting Tuesday, to ask commissioners to give them the power to hire outside counsel to fight the Knox County Schools mask requirement following a ruling from a federal judge.
Last week, Henderson and Kristy sent Knox County Law Director David Buuck a letter asking him to hire outside counsel for the case.
The county’s elected law director responded in a letter, Monday, where he said he would not hire outside lawyers for this case.
In the letter, the law director said they did not produce medical experts because, at the time of the initial hearing, Knox County Schools’ Medical Director Dr. Martha Buchanan said masking would help lower the transmission rate of COVID-19.
The letter said Knox County Health Department still supports wearing masks, and the law office would be put in the awkward position of arguing against the school system’s medical director.
In a filing in early February, the parents suing Knox County Schools said students, staff and parents were not following Judge Ronnie Greer’s order for universal masking in Knox County Schools.
Court documents show the Knox County Law Director’s Office asked one of their investigators to go to schools and take pictures of students and staff complying with Judge Greer’s mask order.
The parents suing the school district said this was staged because the principals had advanced notice of the investigator’s visit. The law director’s office said the principals had to know because the law director’s staff wouldn’t be allowed inside a Knox County School without advanced notice.
In a response submitted Wednesday by the Knox County parents, lawyers argued students were told to put the mask on correctly before taking the photos.
The parents re-iterated their request for an independent monitor to enforce the mask order or a compliance plan.
The parents’ lawyer, Justin Gilbert, previously said he would like to negotiate a compliance plan with the law director’s office. The Knox County School Board voted to tell the law director’s office to negotiate, but they voted against a mask monitor in schools.