Broward County Public Schools rebuffed efforts by the state Tuesday to force the district to reverse its mask mandate for students and employees, saying Florida law gives the district authority to impose dress-related requirements, including masks, to protect the safety of students and staff.
Interim Superintendent Vickie Cartwright and School Board Chair Rosalind Osgood told reporters Tuesday morning at a special meeting of the Broward School Board that the mandate would continue as students embarked on their second week back in class.
The Broward response defies Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran’s warning Friday that school board members who voted for the facial covering requirement could have their salaries withheld if they didn’t allow parents the provision to opt out their children from wearing masks. The Broward policy requires a doctor’s note for a student not to wear a mask.
“In our reply, what we had stated to them is we do believe that it is an overreach of their authority, that we are legally compliant,” Cartwright said. “And, we have respectfully requested that they rescind the order that has been placed on Broward County Public Schools.”
Corcoran gave Broward until Tuesday to revise its policy with the opt-out provision. Osgood said the district was already in compliance because it allows opt-outs for children with certain medical conditions or special needs.
“We don’t believe we have done anything inappropriate as it relates to the execution order or the rule of the Department of Education,” Osgood said. “So, we have instructed our lawyers, our legal counsel, to seek legal avenues so we can challenge these things that we believe are out of line.”
Florida Department of Education Press Secretary Brett Tubbs said Tuesday afternoon he had not seen Broward’s response.
Gov. Ron DeSantis in July signed an executive order prohibiting school districts in the state from making masks mandatory for students and staff this school year. So far, six districts representing more than 1 million students — Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Hillsborough, Sarasota and Alachua — have opposed the state’s order and passed mask mandates.
President Joe Biden called Cartwright Friday night to voice his support for the district staying the course on mask mandates; his administration has said federal relief funds could be used to offset any financial penalties brought by the state.
On Monday, most of Miami-Dade’s roughly 350,000 students returned to school. Superintendent Alberto Carvalho told reporters there were few complaints from parents or students about having to wear masks while inside school buildings.
COVID-19 CASES AMONG STUDENTS, EMPLOYEES IN SCHOOLS
Dashboards that track new COVID-19 cases among students and employees at Broward and Miami-Dade school districts show that Broward has had 152 cases — 84 students and 68 employees — since Aug. 18, the first day of school. Miami-Dade’s dashboard shows 68 cases — 1 student and 67 employees — since Aug. 13.
The Broward School Board also responded to the state in a letter Tuesday, in which it disputed Tallahassee’s stance that parents have a “fundamental and unlimited right” to insist their children not be mandated to wear masks in the midst of the pandemic.
“If such a fundamental and unlimited right did exist, it would necessarily conflict with the right of a parent or legal guardian of a minor child — especially an immunocompromised child — to attend school in an environment made safer by a requirement that those individuals the child will come in contact with will wear a face-covering, thereby taking a measure that the Department of Health has acknowledged mitigates against the spread of that virus,” the letter states.
Broward’s stance on masks has angered some parents and others in the community. Protesters have appeared at Broward and Miami-Dade school board meetings railing against mask mandates.
They were at Tuesday’s Broward meeting, which was called to discuss, among other topics, in-school testing for COVID-19.
COVID-19 TESTING TO BE DONE IN SCHOOLS
The nine-member board gave initial approval of a proposal to accept a state Department of Health grant to buy equipment and train school district nurses to test students who show possible symptoms of COVID-19 infection. The grant amount was not immediately available.
Parental approval would be required every time a child is tested, said Antoine Hickman, the district’s executive director of exceptional student education and support services.
“Parents would have to provide informed consent,” Hickman said.
Nevertheless, several people spoke out against the item during the comment period before the board discussed it, accusing members of going beyond their role as policy makers. The back-and-forth between some of the roughly eight speakers and Osgood became heated at times, resulting in Osgood ordering the microphone be turned off and police to remove two people.
Osgood ordered police to oust Chris Nelson, a frequent protester of Broward School Board meetings who said he is part of the groups Reopen South Florida and FreeFlorida.me, after he criticized her for posting photographs of herself on social media not wearing a mask in public.
“If you’re not going to speak to the item, I’m going to cut the mic off and ask you to leave,” Osgood said.
“I’m talking about the item right now,” said Nelson, who does not have children in the school system.
Osgood then told Nelson, “If I choose not to wear a mask when I’m around people who are vaccinated, that’s my business.”
When he continued to speak, Osgood ordered him removed.
Several of the speakers against the in-school testing brought up that the nasal swabs used to collect samples are sterilized by a chemical called ethylene oxide. Cartwright countered, saying that while the compound can cause cancer, bleach is also poisonous to people, but is still used safely as a sterilization agent.
School Board Member Sarah Leonardi said so much was said about ethylene oxide, that discussing it further contributes to misinformation that abounds about COVID-19.
“Misinformation like this is perpetuating the pandemic,” she said.
_____
