BURTONSVILLE, Md. — A Montgomery County school spokesperson confirms that a high school special education biology teacher has been on administrative leave for refusing to wear a mask on the job.
Mask-wearing indoors is mandatory for all teachers and students in Montgomery County schools.
The teacher, Angela Harders, has taken to Facebook to make her showdown with the school system very public. She posted a video of her being escorted off the property at Paint Branch on August 25.
“I have just been put on administrative leave and I am leaving the building followed by all these security guards,” Harders said in one video.
Harders wore a shirt that said “truth lover, freedom fighter”.
She also posted the administrative leave letter delivered by Paint Branch Principal Dr. Afie Mirsgah.
“School administrators offered to provide you with a face covering and you refused”, the principal wrote, adding that Harders’ behavior was allegedly “inappropriate” and “unprofessional”.
In another recording posted by Harders with administrators, she claims a health and religious exemption and says she's being discriminated against.
In a written statement a school system spokesman confirmed the incident saying:
“Staff members must go through the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) process to be approved for any type of accommodation. Depending on the nature of a staff member’s disability, we would look into reasonable accommodations that might involve an alternative placement or leave.”
The school system would not elaborate saying the issue is a personnel matter.
In May, Harders complained about mask mandates in a letter to Maryland Governor Larry Hogan. In the letter she falsely claimed:
“Children under the age of 12 also pose virtually zero risk of contracting, much less dying from SARS-CoV-2."
According to a recent report from the American Academy of Pediatrics, there have been 4,593,721 total child COVID-19 cases reported in the US representing 14.6% of all cases.
There have been 454 pediatric deaths during the pandemic, according to the US Centers for Disease Control.
Harders did not respond to WUSA9’s attempts to contact her.
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