Michael Grieco will skip pay if Ron DeSantis delivers on threat to withhold school admin money

Rep. Michael Grieco said he will work without pay if Gov. Ron DeSantis follows through on a threat to withhold the salaries of school administrators who defy his executive order against school mask mandates.

“I’ll say this right now. If the Governor pulls anybody’s salary, I am committing personally to forgo whatever measly salary I get in the House until that gets resolved,” he said Tuesday during a Zoom conference.

Florida lawmakers are paid about $30,000 yearly, plus a $152 per diem allowance, according to the National Conference of State Legislators.

Fellow Democratic Reps. Robin Bartleman of Weston, Fentrice Driskell of Tampa and Anna Eskamani of Orlando also spoke during the 40-minute, virtual discussion on DeSantis’ anti-mask rule.

Grieco, a former Miami Beach Commissioner, commended Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, who said Sunday that his district will continue to be “oriented by the expert advice of professionals” and lamented the “rhetorical narrative that’s deeply influenced by politics rather than medicine.”

“At no time shall I allow my decision to be influenced by a threat to my paycheck, a small price to pay considering the gravity of this issue and the potential impact to the health and wellbeing of our students and dedicated employees,” Carvalho said.

Grieco said he was proud Carvalho took a strong stance on the matter and encouraged other Florida superintendents to ignore DeSantis’ order and “do what’s right for the kids.”

“We talk about local control, and you flip on CNN and see people like (former Ohio) Gov. (John) Kasich talk about how true conservatism is about giving power to those closest to the people,” he said. “Unfortunately, here in Florida, we’ve got it backwards.”

Despite polling that shows 62% of Florida voters believe schools should require all children to wear masks when classes restart this month amid a record-high number of COVID-19 hospitalizations throughout the state, the Governor has yet to back off from his stance against masks.

He and other Florida Republicans, including U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, have argued vaccinations, which haven’t yet been cleared for use by children 11 and younger, are the surest way for people to protect themselves against life-threatening symptoms.

“As for children and teenagers, the chances are that if they get it, they’re going to be fine after a few days. But unlike the first wave of COVID, we are seeing children in hospitals and even in intensive care, and that’s something we didn’t see the first time around,” Rubio said by video Monday. “Look, those are the facts based on what we know about COVID right now. In America, you are free to decide what you want to do with that information.”

On Friday, a group of parents filed suit against the state of Florida over DeSantis’ order, which they claim violates the Americans with Disabilities Act by placing an “illegal barrier (preventing) students with disabilities … from returning to public schools.”

But DeSantis’ order appears to be working for now. While some county school boards like Manatee and Pinellas have adopted mask-optional policies, others like Lee, Orange and Duval said they will require masks, but allow parents to opt out.

The School Board of Broward County, which announced plans to require masks in classrooms early this month, voted 8-1 Tuesday to keep its mask mandate in place.

Bartleman, a former teacher and school administrator who represents Broward, said protecting students is one of a school’s top priorities. Right now, she said, DeSantis’ order is preventing schools from doing that.

“When one child, just one child in my classroom, had a peanut allergy, not a single student could bring peanuts into the classroom, and parents never disagreed because it was about the life and death of that child. Yet the same logic is not applied to a deadly pandemic,” she said. “Their only line of defense is a mask.”