Jennifer Pippin, the local activist who has railed relentlessly against our School Board and school superintendent for having the audacity to ignore Gov. Ron DeSantis’ ill-conceived ban on mask mandates, claims to have found local medical professionals willing to aid parents in exempting their kids from wearing masks in class.
In an 11-minute video on her Facebook page, she’s advertising an unethical way to get around the two-week mask requirement the board approved on Aug. 24 and promises to revisit at Tuesday’s meeting.
“If you need a mask mandate exemption, please private-message me on Facebook,” Pippin says in the video. “This is a public video, and I will be happy to get those resources to you.”
She then warns that the names of the medical professionals with whom she is conspiring must be kept private.
“I cannot post it here because we do not want those doctors and their practices compromised,” Pippin says, adding, “None of them are associated with the Department of Health or Cleveland Clinic Indian River. They have their own private practices and they’re able to write the exemption forms for the School District.”
Pippin follows up by asking her audience to provide the names of other medical professionals who share her anti-mask sentiment so she can “add them to the list.”
School Board Chairman Brian Barefoot called Pippin’s attempt to sabotage the mask mandate “outrageous,” and he wondered what respectable medical professional would engage in such a practice.
“Would the doctors signing these forms be willing to testify under oath that the medical reasons cited are legitimate?” Barefoot asked. “Do they care that they’re potentially putting at risk the health of students, faculty and staff? Or that they’re potentially putting more strain on the local healthcare workers during this recent surge in the pandemic?
“I don’t know what’s worse: Pippin encouraging people to do this, or the parents going to this extreme so their children don’t have to wear a mask.”
For the record: School Superintendent David Moore, who recommended the mandate the board approved in a 3-2 vote, said only 67 medical exemptions were granted last week.
“That’s less than 1 percent of the Pre-K through eighth-grade students in the district, so we’re not seeing a high volume,” Moore said. “But we’ll see how things go. It’s early.”
That’s a far different scenario than what’s happening across the state in Venice, where one chiropractor – yes, a chiropractor – signed more than 500 forms exempting students in Sarasota County from the district’s mask mandate.
According to the Washington Post, the superintendent responded by raising the threshold, empowering only licensed medical doctors, osteopathic physicians and nurse practitioners to sign the exemption forms.
Pippin had posted on her Facebook page that a local chiropractic practice, along with an urgent care clinic in Sebastian, were included on her “list” of medical professionals.
Moore hinted last weekend that he might follow Sarasota County’s lead, saying the district’s legal team approved the current policy here but it could be updated at next week’s board meeting “if this continues.”
The decision whether to extend the mask mandate – and limit which medical professionals may sign exemption forms – will depend on the COVID case numbers in the community and the pandemic’s impact on students and teachers, Moore said.
In addition to promoting a list of medical professionals willing to skirt the district’s mask requirement, Pippin also has launched an online petition asking DeSantis to remove Moore and the three board members who voted in favor of the mandate: Barefoot, Mara Schiff and Peggy Jones.
The petition – endorsed by two groups she has helped organize, “Moms For Liberty Indian River” and the “We The People Indian River County” Facebook group – claims the three board members violated both DeSantis’ executive order and Florida’s new “Parental Rights” law.
As of Saturday night, the petition had drawn only 269 signatures in a county of 160,000-plus residents.
Similarly, the GoFundMe account Pippin created last week to cover any legal action she might take to remove the superintendent and three board members had raised, as of Saturday night, a paltry $175 of the $10,000 she seeks.
Pippin’s account, you’ll notice, states that any unspent funds will be used to support School Board candidates who embrace her parents-rights agenda. It doesn’t mention that she recently moved to Sebastian – into District 1, where Schiff is up for re-election next year.
I would’ve asked Pippin about her future plans, but she won’t talk to me.
She is talking to you, though.
“I hate to scare you, but right behind this is vaccines,” she says in her video. “If they can get away with masking your child eight hours a day – even though the governor put out an executive order (and) we have the Parental Bill of Rights, which is a law – guess what’s coming next? Vaccines.”
I haven’t heard Moore or any board member mention a vaccine mandate, but Pippin and her anti-mask mob don’t seem to care much about facts.
They’ve deluded themselves into believing they’re right, their cause is just and the ends they seek justify whatever means are necessary to achieve them.
