School Sports Reopening Group’s Fall Campaign: Pull Kids From Schools With COVID Mandates

The nonprofit organization that pressured Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to cease efforts to lock down school sports in Michigan is organizing a campaign encouraging parents to remove their children from any school that reinstates COVID-19 mandates this fall.

Let Them Play Michigan! announced on Facebook late Tuesday that it will urge parents to walk away from private and public schools that impose face mask, testing or quarantine mandates when classes begin in the fall. The group has 50,000 members on its Facebook group page.

The effort includes a new organization called ParentsStandUp.com, which will ask parents to sign a form if they are “100% positive” they will remove their children from the local school district if it reimposes COVID-19 restrictions this fall.

The group says it will forward the confidential forms to an attorney who will mail a certified letter to each school district alerting, it to how many students will be unenrolling.

Jayme McElvany, the leader of Let Them Play Michigan!, announced the new project on Facebook. “Our project ‘Parents Stand Up’ launched tonight!!!” the post began. “If you are fully committed to walking away if your school brings mandates back, then go sign up! Your name will be 100% confidential. We will email you to let you know how many other people in your area have also committed to walking away. We have to go big...time is running out.”

McElvany reports that 500 students were signed up within an hour of her posting.

A post on the website ParentsStandUp.com stated:

“It’s time parents across the state band together and say enough is enough. If the government and schools continue to target our children, then we must take things into our own hands and walk away.”

It continued: “There are many other options out there and together we can make it work! We can help guide, encourage, and assist one another on this journey. Michigan has many excellent homeschooling options and by law you are allowed to unenroll your child at anytime to begin homeschooling.”

Let Them Play Michigan! led the effort earlier this year to hold high school sporting events despite Whitmer’s ban.

Whitmer lifted her ban on high school sports on Feb. 4, the day after Let Them Play Michigan! announced it was filing a lawsuit against the state to allow high school sports.