Anika Pruthi
Staff Writer
Mask mandates in schools due to Covid-19 have been a serious matter of debate. The rise of the highly contagious delta variant has made it essential for school districts to hold mask requirements. Yet earlier in the summer, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) issued Executive Order 21-175, ensuring parents’ freedom to choose after stating that there were inconsistent recommendations for school-aged children to wear masks.
“We’ve got to protect people’s ability to live their lives. My philosophy is, as a governor, my job is to protect your individual freedom,” DeSantis told AP News. A lawsuit was brought on by parents believing DeSantis overstepped his authority in stating that school districts could not order students to wear masks and that there would be consequences for districts who did not comply with the ban, according to NPR.
According to AP News, state education officials were planning to penalize schools that did not comply with the ban by withholding salaries of the board members. NBC News reported that they had moved to withhold salaries for school board members in the Alachua and Broward counties, two of the thirteen school boards which is representative of over half of Florida’s 2.8 million students voting for mask mandates in defiance of DeSantis’ Executive Order. Charles Dodson, a former judge representing parents challenging DeSantis’ order, mentioned how, “Because of the delta variant, our schools are not safe and secure unless everyone wears a mask.”
With the surge in cases and division with parents and schools against the Governor’s Executive Order, a hearing was scheduled. According to the New York Times, Judge John C. Cooper of the state’s Second Judicial Circuit required Florida’s school districts to enforce strict mask mandates to reduce the spread of Covid-19, agreeing with the parents who believed DeSantis’ order as unconstitutional.
While the new Florida law did give parents the ultimate authority to oversee health issues for their children, Judge Cooper said that it exempts government actions, such as the school district’s decision to require student masking to prevent the spread of the virus, that are essential to protect public health. After making connections to two Florida Supreme Court decisions from 1914 and 1939, he added how individual rights are limited by their impact on others according to WFTV. Judge Cooper also granted an injunction against the Department of Education to block it from threatening the local school boards, according to the New York Times.A
Other Republican governors who have also banned school mask mandates are also facing legal challenges. As more and more states find more people testing positive for, hospitalized with, or dying from the virus, it is crucial in maintaining as many safety precautions as possible to reach normalcy soon.
