photo by: Mackenzie Clark

The Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center, which houses Douglas County District Court and a number of other criminal justice services at 111 E. 11th St., is pictured April 8, 2020.

A Baldwin City mother’s challenge to Douglas County’s mask mandate for children has failed in court.

Douglas County Judge Kay Huff recently ruled against Marie Taylor’s petition against the county’s health order, which argued that the order’s 90-day mandate was too long and must be reconsidered every 30 days.

The petition was filed under the state’s new law, Senate Bill 40, which allows residents to challenge public health orders related to the coronavirus pandemic. Taylor’s challenge was considered by the Douglas County District Court, even though the law itself is in limbo and its legality is currently being considered by the Kansas Supreme Court.

While acknowledging the county had the authority to issue public health orders, such as mask mandates, Taylor had specifically asked the court to limit the county’s mask mandate to 30 days after issuance, arguing a longer order would be in violation of the state law.

But Huff found that the state’s law did not require the county to reconsider its orders every 30 days, noting the “plain language” of the law did not support Taylor’s position. She also said that the law specifically addressed mask mandates and did not specify a requirement for time limits of such orders.

“In summary, by exempting an expiration date from (a subsection of the law), it is clear that the Kansas legislature thought mask orders could be issued without a fixed time limit,” Huff wrote in her ruling. “In any event, a 30-day rule is not required by the statutory language.”

With the ruling, Taylor’s case was “terminated,” according to court records. Meanwhile, the county’s order — which required children between the ages of 2 and 12 to wear masks while in indoor public places, such as school buildings — was set to expire at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday. Public health officials have not proposed extending the order.

As the Journal-World previously reported, the Douglas County Commission issued the order in August, then extended it for 90 days in September because children in that age range were not yet eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccines. Douglas County’s health officer, Dr. Thomas Marcellino, said in September that the mask requirement had met the goal of helping keep kids in school and avoided the shutdowns that have occurred in other areas because of COVID outbreaks.

In the petition, Taylor alleged that the mandate interferes with the child’s education because he is required to wear a mask when attending a Baldwin City school, where he receives speech special education services. Despite the child’s alleged issues with wearing a mask, the child’s special education provider, East Central Kansas Cooperative in Education, told the mother he would be required to wear a mask while receiving services on school district property because of the county’s order.

The county’s mask order includes various exceptions, including children with a medical condition, mental health condition or disability that prevents them from wearing a face covering; and children who are deaf or hard of hearing, or communicating with a person who is deaf or hard of hearing, among several others.

When asked by the Journal-World, Joshua Ney, an attorney for Taylor, declined to elaborate on how the mask mandate affects the child, citing the child’s privacy. But he said the purpose of the petition was to “ensure good government and to protect the rights of parents to seek judicial review” of the county’s health order. He also acknowledged the petition was asking the court for an order that would have still allowed the County Commission to issue a new health order 30 days at a time.