And there it is. . .
School districts in Hillsborough, Miami-Dade and now Palm Beach County have joined with Broward County and will defy Gov. Ron DeSantis’s order banning mask mandates for students:
After record-shattering daily COVID-19 counts, school boards in Florida's Hillsborough and Miami-Dade Counties held emergency meetings and voted to again require face coverings on campuses — defying Gov. Ron DeSantis https://t.co/TZYlhG5cgX
— Yahoo News (@YahooNews) August 19, 2021
This means students in all of South Florida will be masked:
BREAKING: All South Florida schools have now mandated masks and defied Governor DeSantis.
Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Co.
The last domino to fall was Palm Beach County. The school board eliminated the mask opt-out after a lengthy meeting tonight.
— Jay O'Brien (@jayobtv) August 19, 2021
DeSantis spox Christina Pushaw responded, saying the “forced masking of schoolchildren infringes upon parents’ rights to make health and educational decisions for their own children”:
Here is the response from @GovRonDeSantis spokeswoman, @ChristinaPushaw.
She adds possible consequences will be up to the Florida Dept. of Education. https://t.co/vLMvuGQBw0 pic.twitter.com/2cvx7peLPB
— Andrew Lofholm (@AndrewLofholm) August 19, 2021
This doesn’t include private schools:
This obviously doesn’t include private schools, which make their own mask policies.
— Jay O'Brien (@jayobtv) August 19, 2021
And there are medical opt-outs with a doctor’s note:
Students with disabilities can still opt out, but that’s it in Palm Beach County.
Passed by a 6-1 vote of the school board, after an evening full of public comment.
— Jay O'Brien (@jayobtv) August 19, 2021
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