President Joe Biden on Thursday condemned concerned parents in Williamson County, after hundreds attended the local school board meeting to voice their opposition against a potential mask mandate.

In his remarks, Biden claimed that the parents and students who were against the additional measures were making the issue a “political dispute.”

“I know there are a lot of people out there trying to turn a public safety measure, children wearing masks in school so they can be safe, into a political dispute,” Mr. Biden remarked. “This isn’t about politics. This is about keeping our children safe.

“I saw video and reports from Tennessee of protesters threatening doctors and nurses who were before a school board, making the case that to keep kids safe, there should be mandatory masks. And as they walked out, these doctors were threatened,” the president added.

Biden went on to call school boards, like Williamson County who have implemented additional restrictions on their students, “heroes.”

“To mayors, school board members, superintendents, local leaders and educators across the country who are standing up to the governor’s politicizing mass protection for our kids, thank you,” Mr. Biden said. “Thank God that we have heroes like you, and I stand with you all, and America should as well.”

At the meeting, Clay Travis, host of nationally syndicated radio program The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show and one of the parents Biden criticized in his remarks, questioned the facts regarding the decision to implement a mask mandate.

“Here is the truth. Our kids, under 25-years-old, there is a one in a million chance that they are going to die of COVID. They are more likely to be struck by lightning. They are more likely to die of the seasonal flu. Have any of you ever mandated masks for the seasonal flu?” he questioned.

However, parents and students across the state have spoken out in opposition to the decision. In addition to Williamson County, hundreds of parents urged Metro Nashville Public Schools to continue to allow optional masking, as promised at the beginning of the year.

Due to the new measures, more than 100,000 students throughout the state will now be subject to mask requirements.

Watch President Biden’s remarks here:

TRANSCRIPT:

President Joe Biden:

I know there are a lot of people out there trying to turn a public safety measure, that is children wearing masks in school so they can be safe, into a political dispute.

And this isn’t about politics, it’s about keeping our children safe.

I saw video and reports from Tennessee of protesters threatening doctors and nurses who were before a school board, making the case that to keep kids safe, there should be mandatory masks. And as they walked out, these doctors were threatened.

These nurses were threatened. And our health care, workers are heroes. They were the heroes when there was no vaccine. Many of them gave their lives trying to save others, and they’re heroes again with the vaccine.

They’re doing their best to care for the people refusing to get vaccinated. And unvaccinated folks are being hospitalized and dying as a result of not being vaccinated.

To the mayors, school superintendents, educators, local leaders who are standing up to the governors politicizing mass protection for our kids, thank you. Thank you, as well. Thank God that we have heroes like you, and I stand with you all, and America should as well.

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Cooper Moran is a reporter for the Star News Network. Follow Cooper on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].