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BROWNSBURG, Ind. — Over a dozen parents spoke at a school board meeting in Brownsburg Monday night as the school district voted to reinstate a mask mandate in all of its school buildings regardless of vaccination status.

More of the parents who spoke were against the mandate.

“Really, you have no legal right to mandate a medical intervention,” one parent said. “You’re not licensed to practice medicine in Indiana. The CDC concluded that masking is not an effective strategy to prevent transmission of the COVID virus also so the vote for a mask mandate should be a resounding no.”

One parent even told the board that he was giving his daughter “permission to say no” to being told to put on a mask. Others threatened to pull their kids out of school if that mandate were to be approved.

“Masks are a key tool we have for reducing the transfer of this virus for mask wearers to others regardless of vaccination status,” another parent in favor of the mandate said. “Please be willing to do what is right this week and follow the prevalent health data that you presented here tonight to keep our kids in school every single day.”

The Hendricks County Health Department is strongly recommending masks be worn indoors and school board members said that’s the guidance they will follow. None of the board members had masks on during the meeting, and many parents called them out for it.

In the end, the board voted 4-1 to re-implement a district-wide mask mandate. It goes into effect on Wednesday.