LOUISVILLE, Ky. — More schools and parents across Kentucky are now backing Attorney General Daniel Cameron's efforts to sue the governor for mandating all public and private schools stop in-person learning.
Cameron initially joined a lawsuit by Danville Christian Academy, on Friday, two days after Gov. Andy Beshear's order. The lawsuit is seeking a restraining order against the closing of classrooms.
The Highlands Latin School on Frankfort Avenue in Louisville is one of the schools, joining over a dozen other religious-based private schools across the state claiming it's a violation of their first amendment rights and a violation of Kentucky's Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
"Our position is that our clients' rights are being violated every minute," Christ Weist said.
Weist is a Northern Kentucky attorney representing Highlands Latin School, and several others. Weist has now filed a separate lawsuit from the attorney general's, also asking a judge to keep classrooms open to in-person learning.
"We know that there's a lot of it in the community but we're not seeing significant cases in the schools," he said.
Weist said schools and parents were "blindsided" by the restrictions, left with little time to adapt after the governor made the announcement all Kentucky schools needed to move to non-traditional instruction starting Monday, Nov. 23.
"He has robbed us of our ability as parents to make the right decisions for our children," Susie Barnett said.
Susie Barnett and Linda Parrish are both mothers of two children, all who attend Christian Academy of Louisville.
"I just feel like when you make a decision like this as a unitarily, like one size fits all decision, which I feel like has been done here, then you didn't just take away a curriculum, you take away relationships," Parrish said.
Both are just two of more than 1,000 Kentucky parents who have also now filed a brief backing the attorney general's lawsuit.
"I don't think you should make a sweeping mandate to say that children can't be in school. Kids need to be in school, parents need to have their children in school," Barnett said.
On Monday, the governor said more than 10,000 kids over the last two weeks had to quarantine.
"We're not treating any school differently. We're treating them all the same," Gov. Beshear said.
Weist said he believes it's not equal, expressing that other places like the science center or YMCAs are still allowed to help kids in-person with their virtual learning.
According Parrish and Barnett, Christian Academy of Louisville has remained safe and open since August 19th.
"If everything has been met and exceeded then we should be able to move forward without government intrusion," Parrish said.
Both mothers, along with Weist, said the goal is to have children back in the classroom by the Monday after Thanksgiving, despite the governor's order limiting in-person instruction for weeks beyond that.
At a hearing Monday in Frankfort, a judge said he will consider the case and issue a ruling likely sometime this week.
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