FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The Broward County School Board on Tuesday voted to keep its existing mask mandate in place for the 2021-22 school year, defying the governor’s orders that threaten financial penalties, including withholding the salaries of superintendents and School Board members.
The nine-member School Board voted 8-1 to retain the mask mandate members had previously approved unanimously on July 28. The mandate requires everyone — students, faculty, staff and visitors — to wear a mask inside schools and on buses, with the exception for medical conditions. The only School Board member to vote against retaining the mandate was Lori Alhadeff of District 4.
School Board members also authorized the district to evaluate and legally challenge the state health department’s new mask-related rules in court.
The decision was made after hours of deliberations and listening to public comments. There were 373 public comments submitted online to discuss the district’s mask policy. More than a dozen people spoke at the meeting, including teachers, parents and students.
Many who attended had the same message for the nine-member School Board: Don’t let Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis bully you, and keep the mask mandate in place .
“We ask you to not be bullied by the governor and not play Russian roulette with our children,” said Marsha Ellison, president of NAACP’s Fort Lauderdale chapter.
The first day of class in Broward County is Aug. 18.
Broward is the only public school district in South Florida to mandate masks for the 2021-22 school year. The School District of Palm Beach County was originally planning to make masks optional but reversed course last week and made masks mandatory, with an opt-out option for parents who don’t want their child to wear a mask. Masks are optional in Monroe county public schools.
The Miami-Dade County school district, which was originally planning to make masks optional for the new school year, is expected to make a final decision on a policy next week after its task force of medical and public health experts convene. The district is reviewing its policy because of Florida’s recent surge of COVID-19 cases, fueled by the spread of the more contagious delta variant.
Others who spoke at Broward’s School Board on meeting Tuesday asked for for masks to be optional and left up to the parents, in line with what DeSantis is calling for.
DeSantis opposes mask mandates in schools, and in the past two weeks, he issued an executive order that triggered new rules that say Florida districts must let parents opt their children out of mask mandates if imposed.
The statewide rules have sent a ripple effect throughout the state, with just days before the first day of school on Tuesday for many Florida school districts. Some districts have decided to leave masks optional or imposed mask mandates with an opt-out option for parents. Other districts are defying the state by requiring a doctor’s note to wiggle out of a mask mandate.
In response, the governor is issuing new threats. His office said the State Board of Education could deduct the pay of superintendents or school board members if the district’s opt-out policy requires a doctor’s note.
“When districts enact opt-out policies that require a doctor’s note, they are not giving all parents a free choice — only parents whose children’s doctors attest to a medical condition,” DeSantis’ press secretary Christina Pushaw said.
The governor’s office, however, is backtracking from more severe penalties listed on the governor’s own executive order and subsequent rules. The order states that the State Board of Education can withhold funds from districts that don’t comply with laws or rules regarding the masking of children.
Pushaw, however, said Monday that “any possible financial consequences would be narrowly tailored to address the offense committed.”
“Children and teachers will not be punished or face adverse consequences for the decisions made by certain school board members and/or superintendents,” she said.
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