begin quote from:
Miami-Dade Votes to Mandate Masks in Schools
![a group of people standing in front of a building]({"default":{"load":"default","w":"27","h":"18","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/AANtk8T.img?h=362&w=540&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=150&y=126"},"dpi":2})
© Martha Asencio-Rhine/Zuma PressMIAMI—Two of Florida’s largest school districts voted Wednesday to implement mask mandates, setting up a clash with the state, which a day earlier moved to punish two other districts that passed similar orders.
The board for Miami-Dade County Public Schools, the largest district in the state, voted 7-1 to require masks when classes start on Monday. Minutes later, the board for Hillsborough County Public Schools, which includes Tampa and is the state’s third-largest district, voted 5-2 to put in place such a requirement.
“The stakes are too high for us not to do everything that we can to ensure the safety of our children,” said Marta Pérez, a Miami-Dade County school board member, during discussion of the measure, which she backed.
The decisions intensify a standoff between the state and some local school officials over whether to require masks in schools, at a time when Covid-19 cases are surging in Florida. Days after some school districts in the state started the new school year, hundreds of students and staff have tested positive for the virus and thousands more are in quarantine because of possible exposure.
Florida tallied more than 152,000 Covid-19 cases over the past week, more than any other state and accounting for nearly one in five cases in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
On Tuesday, the Florida Board of Education voted unanimously to punish the school districts in Alachua County, home to Gainesville, and Broward County, which includes Fort Lauderdale and makes up the state’s second-largest district. The counties applied mask mandates that education board members said violated a state order. The sanctions, which will be specified after further investigation, could include withholding salaries of school leaders and removing them from office.
Neither county indicated it would back down. The Alachua County school board voted Tuesday to extend its mask mandate another eight weeks. Classes began on Wednesday in Broward County with the mask order in effect.
Video: Florida parents concerned over school mask mandate (Associated Press)
During hourslong school board meetings in Miami-Dade and Hillsborough counties on Wednesday, members heard from scores of parents who expressed impassioned opinions for and against mask requirements. In Hillsborough County, the board also heard from public-health officials who provided data on Covid-19 case tallies in the county that have reached pandemic highs.
As of Wednesday morning—eight days after the start of classes in Hillsborough County—more than 10,700 students and school employees were either in isolation because of a positive Covid-19 test or in quarantine because of potential exposure, according to the school district.
Lynn Gray, the Hillsborough County school board chair, spoke in favor of the mandate during the board meeting. “If that does prevent a growing amount of sickness—hopefully not any deaths—then I think it’s more than worth it,” she said.
Board member Melissa Snively, who voted against the mandate, said she worried about running afoul of state law and drawing punishment for the district. “Just because Miami-Dade jumped off of a cliff doesn’t mean we have to jump off a cliff with them,” she said.
An executive order issued by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis in July, along with a subsequent state rule, allowed parents to opt their children out of any school mask requirement. But the four school districts now battling the state over mask mandates allowed only limited exceptions—mainly authorization from a medical professional to opt out.
Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran warned Alachua and Broward counties earlier this month that if they didn’t comply with the law, he might push to withhold funds from the districts equal to the salaries of the local superintendent and school board members.
Florida’s ability to financially sanction superintendents and school board members is limited. “The state does not, and has never, managed the payroll for local officials,” said Christina Pushaw, a spokeswoman for Mr. DeSantis, on Tuesday. “The only way the state could tailor the financial penalties to hold accountable the few officials who made the decision to break the law would be to withhold state funding in the exact amount of those officials’ salaries.”
President Biden Wednesday signed a memorandum that directs the Education Department to use all available tools to ensure that students can return to the classroom safely, an effort intended in part to counter state efforts prohibiting mask requirements in schools.
Last week, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona wrote a letter to Florida school superintendents saying districts could make up any money withheld by the state by tapping federal emergency relief funds.
Write to Arian Campo-Flores at arian.campo-flores@wsj.com
No comments:
Post a Comment