Ned Ryun on His Battle to Free Kids from Masks at School
CLAY: We bring in now, I believe, Ned Ryun, who has been on the absolute front lines of everything that’s been going on in Loudoun County, and also on the front lines of helping to ensure that Glenn Youngkin sent shockwaves throughout the American political establishment by winning the gubernatorial race in the state of Virginia — and then coming up and actually doing what he said he was gonna do, including removing the mask mandate in Virginia schools. And now there are rebellions against the idea that you should be able to choose whether or not you wear a mask. Ned, what’s the latest on the ground there in Loudoun County as it pertains to the mask debate?
RYUN: Well, it’s pretty interesting today, Clay, because the last two days were teacher conferences and grading. On Friday, the students — my children included — who did not wear masks were given a letter saying, “If you show up on Wednesday,” today, “without a mask, we will suspend you.” So, you know, we had conversations, all four of our kids are in the school system here in Loudoun County, and the two older boys, one’s a sophomore in high school and the other one’s in seventh grade.
We talked through the implications and said, “We’re behind you all the way. What do you choose to do?” And they said, “We want to show up maskless on Wednesday,” and I said, “We will walk you in and we will have the conversation with the powers that be about what’s taking place.” So as of today both of the older boys are suspended from the Loudoun County public school system for refusing to wear a mask and actually complying with Younkin’s executive order.
You know, it’s pretty interesting, Clay. I took my seventh grader in and we sat with the principal and he read the suspension letter, and about halfway through — and it was about defiance and willful disobedience — and I said, “If you could hold on for just a second,” and I looked at my seventh grader and said, “You know, James, principled defiance in the face of arbitrary rules that are not backed up by science or data or facts is always the right thing to do.
“And I have your back in this entire situation and I believe what you’re doing is principled.” And I looked at the principal, and I said, “You may continue.” So right now, it really… The amazing part, Clay, is it feels like really random… You know, with our schools out in western Loudoun, they’re saying it’s a day-to day-suspension.
If they choose to show up with a mask tomorrow, the suspension will be lifted. But in certain places like Stone Bridge High School — which most people do not identify except for those who have been following the whole story of the rape that took place. This is the exact same high school — you know, a student was not suspended for raping another student — and they’re handing out 10-day suspensions today for not wearing a mask.
BUCK: Wait, wait. Ned, Ned, it’s Buck. My blood is boiling here. I know everyone across the country is the same way when they hear this.
RYUN: Join the club.
BUCK: Just so we’re all very clear, the governor has said via executive order, you do not have to wear a mask; correct?
RYUN: It’s optional. The executive order said they are — we’re lifting the mask mandates. They are now optional.
BUCK: But so, Ned, is there any…? Just so we’re all clear, is there any…? When you’re sitting there with this principal, I mean, what he’s doing is effectively in defiance of state law and state authority. So what is their argument? I don’t understand. It feels like they’re just engaged in some kind of, you know, pro-Fauci nullification of the law or something. What is this?
RYUN: What they are saying as their defense is that obviously the previous governor and the previous House of Delegates that was controlled by the Democrats, they passed a piece of legislation saying Virginia will follow CDC guidelines regarding mask mandates. Oh, by the way, the CDC has come out recently and said basically paper and cloth masks are worthless. So there is no real justification for it, and it really is…
There are other school districts, but Fairfax and Loudoun, which are two of the big northern counties, have said, “We’re going to fight this. We will implement mask mandates,” and so people understand, Jason Miyares, the newly elected attorney general, is arguing this case today in front of the Virginia Supreme Court. So we’re very — all of us are very — curious to see how that turns out. I don’t think there will be a decision today, but I hope that within a couple days that we’ll get a decision that will be, you know, on the right side from the Supreme Court.
CLAY: First of all, I commend you and your kids making this stand.
RYUN: I’m so proud of them.
CLAY: When you were telling us this story, I’m just sitting here… You know this, Ned. There’s so much discussion from left-wingers about being on the right side of history, right?
RYUN: Mmm-hmm.
CLAY: They’re always trying to lecture people. When I sit and look at this — and look, I’ve got a history degree. I am like Buck — and I bet you are as well, Ned — a student of American history.
BUCK: He just wrote a history book, actually, a great one about Bunker Hill.
CLAY: That’s right. We talked about that the first time I think we had you on, we were asking about that. So I have zero doubt that the people who are going to be on the right side of this issue are people like your kid and your kids 20 years from now. ‘Cause you know what that sounds like when you have that principal reading that letter explaining his suspension?
It sounds to me like principals who would have not allowed minority kids into their schools and argue that they were doing the right thing and then 20 and 30 years ago — I know Joe Biden’s trying to make this George Wallace argument right now — there are principals and school leaders who are effectively standing on the schoolhouse steps and disallowing kids to enter based on the flawed reading of the currently existing law.
RYUN: Right.
CLAY: But also there’s no justification for mask mandate in schools. They have no scientific ability. So not only is your son or your sons on the right side for purposes of freedom, they’re on the right side for purposes of science as well.
RYUN: That’s right.
CLAY: Which is an incredible accomplishment for a young kid to be willing to recognize and stand up when there are consequences for him taking those actions.
RYUN: Yeah. No. And I told them on the way home ’cause I walked them both in — one’s in the middle school, obviously, one’s in the high school. We went through the process, got ’em in the car, you know, drove ’em home and said, “You know, guys, you probably… Some of this probably is not gonna make sense to you, but allow me just a few minutes to talk to you. You know, we were founded…’
“This nation was founded about the idea of natural higher law in which in some ways we have a moral obligation to reject arbitrary rules. I mean, that really is… If you were to, you know, summarize the American Revolution, that was the basis for it, in which founders said we’re not gonna follow and comply and submit to these arbitrary rules,” and I said, “You know, this… You know, some people say this just about a mask.
But it’s about something much bigger in which you actually have to stand up and say, ‘No, this is wrong,'” and again, like you said, Clay: There is no scientific backing for any of this based off all the studies we now have that show that the masks virtually are worthless, ineffective. The other thing that’s deeply offending to me in all of this is really kind of the bullying and intimidation in which they literally told our kids on Friday.
My sophomore in high school, they gave him a letter and said — looked him in the eye and said — “If you do not comply, if you do not submit, you will be suspended,” and he took the letter and he came home and said, “I’m not submitting, and I’m not complying. I am showing up on Wednesday without a mask.”
BUCK: We’re all proud, Ned, of what your kids are doing here and obviously you standing behind them. We’re speaking to Ned Ryun who is the founder of American Majority and his book, speaking of history, is The Adversaries: A Story of Boston and Bunker Hill, available now in paperback. Ned, do you think if you get this decision — ’cause, look, as goes Virginia, a lot of other I think purple —
RYUN: Right.
BUCK: — politically purple states may follow. You know, Colorado has started to have some breaks because of Jared Polis in Fauciism. They’re starting to say, “Look. The masks and the lockdowns and all this stuff…” They’re starting to wake up to reality slowly but surely. If there is a decision from the state Supreme Court in Virginia that says, “Yeah, the governor — the new government, the new governor — that people just elected of Virginia can get rid of mandatory masking in schools,” do you think that the schools will comply or is Loudoun just gonna engage in outright nullification of law and say, “Whatever. What are you gonna do, arrest principals?” I mean, how do you think this goes?
RYUN: You ask a very good question, Buck, because right now I don’t think we have a clear answer. But knowing based off past behavior from the Loudoun County school board, they’re not gonna take this sitting down. I think they will fight tooth and nail to resist anything from Glenn Youngkin. They will do their best to try and resist. You know, we’ll see. I’m really curious.
BUCK: By the way, is this just a spite-against-Youngkin thing —
RYUN: It feels like it.
BUCK: — from Democrats in the public school, which, as we know, is like the heart of the commie power center in a lot of states, is the whole public teachers union, public school unions and all the rest of it. Is it mostly that, or are you coming across…? You’re a Loudoun County parent. Are there parents who just — I don’t know — can’t read what’s in the news and figure out that masks don’t actually work? I mean, are they truly terrified? What’s going on?
RYUN: I think it’s a mix of both, honestly, Buck. I think there is not an insignificant percentage of parents and teachers who, quite frankly, do not think for themselves, are accepting blindly, you know, what I consider old, outdated information in that somehow masks work, that they have any effect against the virus. So I think there is absolutely a part of that.
And I also do think that they are fighting. I think they deeply resent the fact that Youngkin won. They are going to fight this as hard as they can with whatever means and resources that they have. They were even… So you know, the principal of Loudoun Valley High School — the county sheriff in Loudoun County — made it very clear that the SROs in all the various schools were not to enforce in any way removing parents or students from school grounds for not wearing a mask.
This principal, Sue Ross, went out of her way to call the local Percival Police Department to see if they would enforce it, and they informed here “No, we’re not enforcing that, either.” These people are truly demented and out of control trying to call the police to say, “Will you back up or try to enforce suspension over masks?” and the police department both in the city and the county level said, “Absolutely not. You’re on your own.”
CLAY: Ned, sometimes elections with lower the overall temperature of a body politic.
RYUN: (laughing)
CLAY: I think you can probably tell where I’m going. And so Glenn Youngkin obviously wins election in Virginia, Attorney General Miyares, as you said, doing really good work, and Winsome Sears. They sweep, take back the House of Delegates, all that happens.
RYUN: Yep.
CLAY: Do you see going forward now that people are going to be just as energized in Virginia for the midterms as they were for the governor’s a election in those other races?
RYUN: Oh, I think so. You have to understand, Virginia 10 basically is Loudoun County with Prince William and other parts, but it’s essentially Loudoun County. Virginia 10 I think is now one of the toss-ups, potential pickup for Republicans purely off this school board issue.
CLAY: Yep.
RYUN: So I’ve made it very clear to people that the school board issue is not going away. School boards have made it very clear. They voted 8-1 to condition these mask mandates, the Loudoun County school board did. I think that this will continue to be an issue throughout the country to various school districts, and I think it will have implications, obviously not only at the school board level, but at the congressional level as well.
Because, again, I will remind people, it’s not just me. It’s not just the conservative Republicans saying this is idiotic; it has to stop. It’s Democrats, it’s independents, it’s all parents of all stripes saying, “This has to stop. We did not sign up for this. You can’t stop teaching advanced courses. You can’t indoctrinate our kids. What about just teaching our kids the basics to give them the best opportunities in life?”
And so this parents movement crosses all party lines, all party affiliations. And I think when they see these school boards saying basically, you know, “Shut up and sit down, you dirty little peasants,” I think a lot of parents are saying, “No, we’re not going to; we’re done,” and we’re gonna hopefully run a lot of them out of office here.
BUCK: Ned, man, we always appreciate you. Our friend Ned Ryun coming on here telling us what’s going on. He’s the founder of American Majority. Folks, check out his book history book, The Adversaries, about the battle of Bunker Hill. Ned, great to have you, man. Thanks so much.
RYUN: Guys, enjoyed it. Thank you.
