Leon County Schools (LCS) is joining a growing list of Florida school districts ignoring governors Ron DeSantis‘Order to ban wearing masks in schools.
The head of the region, Rocky Hanna, said on Sunday that Live video posted exist Facebook, Pre-kindergarten through eighth grade students will be required to wear masks, except for one exception, they cannot opt out.
He pointed out that parents can only exempt their children from the decision by providing a form signed by a doctor or psychologist. According to Hannah, parents must complete the form before this weekend.
“This is because these children are not eligible to be vaccinated and they are still the most vulnerable group in our community,” he said.
On July 30, DeSantis signed an order that allows parents to “freely choose” whether their children wear masks.Later governor Threats to withhold wages From a member of the school board or superintendent if they violate his order. Therefore, Hannah’s decision may jeopardize his salary.
“I fully support individual rights and freedoms and the rights of parents; however, I firmly believe that when they violate the rights of others, my rights will end,” Hannah said. “For me, when that child’s rights are violated, your rights are over.”
Hannah’s statement today is his second attempt to wear a mask. On August 9, he announced an authorization, but received a letter from Florida State Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran in which he criticized his decision.
“I received a very severe and threatening letter from Commissioner Corcoran [that] Said that the requirement to wear a mask violates state law, and then if it is implemented, members of the Leon County School Board and I will be forced to violate and [will] Face the highest punishment required by law,” Hannah said on Sunday.
Data shows that in the first week and a half of school, more than 2,000 students opted out of the earlier requirement to wear masks Issued by LCS, Which also shows that as of Friday, 916 students were quarantined, accounting for 3% of the total number of students in the district. The data shows that in the past 14 days, 264 COVID cases have been reported.
Leon County School is one of several areas in Florida. Students are required to wear masks and may be at risk of withholding funds. The Alachua, Broward, and Sarasota school districts hold the same position on DeSantis’ orders.
According to the Associated Press, as tensions escalate, board members of various school districts may lose their monthly funds.
At the beginning of this month, Several teachers died of COVID-19 In Broward County Public Schools. The school board voted on August 10 that all school district schools and facilities staff and students must wear face masks.
On the same day, Broward County School Board Chair Rosalind Osgood said at a press conference: “We have instructed our legal counsel to challenge the rules. [and] threat [made] The governor influences the salaries of school board members or superintendents. “
“The fact that threats allow me to choose someone’s life rather than the value of money bothers me very much. I am not a person who would risk using someone’s life and place them in an environment to play Russian roulette. There are no people wearing masks,” she added.
Over 50 children on average Be hospitalized According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Florida is infected with COVID every day in the context of a surge in the highly contagious Delta variants.Tuesday, the CDC According to the report, between August 7th and 13th, 55 children as young as infants and as many as 17 years old were hospitalized every day.
Weekly newspaper The Leon County School was contacted, but no response was received at the time of publication.
Octavio Jones/Photo by Getty Images
