A.G. Gancarski
After Labor Day, masks are required for most students in Jacksonville-area schools — unless a doctor says otherwise.
Just weeks after finding a carveout exception to Gov. Ron DeSantis‘ ban of school mask mandates, Duval County joined other districts in flouting executive rule-making Monday.
In an emergency meeting on Monday, the district voted to issue an indoor K-12 mask mandate by a 5-2 vote after a nearly eight-hour meeting. The rule, effective Sept. 7, applies to schools, school events, and transportation for 90 days.
With this emergency rule-making vote for a delayed facial covering policy, Duval joins other urban counties: Miami-Dade, Broward, Leon, Hillsborough, Palm Beach, Sarasota, and Alachua counties all have mask requirements already. Some are facing legal challenges.
Dissenting were Lori Hershey, who is running for state House, and fellow conservative Charlotte Joyce.
Hershey blasted the city lawyer who drafted language for the mask mandate, saying the meeting had an “agenda” and she was “greatly troubled” by the conclave. The attorney noted that Hershey never reached out to her for a meeting.
Joyce cautioned that not all doctors agreed that a mask mandate was right for children.
“I will not support this because I’m not going to take the right away from the parent,” Joyce said.
Indeed, the board lawyer expects pediatrician opt-outs. Those have to be on a standardized form.
Board members felt emboldened to move forward in part because the state will only dock board member salaries rather than removing student funding as was once feared.
The parental “opt-out” compromise, also a 5-2 vote, to “strongly encourage” masking is now gone. In its stead: a firmer requirement with only a medical opt-out allowed, circumventing the construct of parental choice.
Nearly 757 cases were confirmed in the first 11 days of school, asserted Superintendent Diana Greene ahead of the vote. 226 cases were confirmed Monday.
The district will have to justify its move to the state, while roughly one in 10 students who opted out will be affected by the decision.
Penalties for not wearing masks would be categorized as “insubordination,” Greene said but noted “very few students ever made it beyond insubordination” in last year’s mask-policy penalties.
Ahead of the vote, prominent doctors warned of the need for a mask mandate with a more contagious virus that is more dangerous to young people than previous iterations.
Dr. Sunil Joshi, president of the Duval County Medical Society Foundation, argued in favor of masks as a mitigation measure with hospitals still at “critical mass.” Dr. Jeffrey Goldhagen said this is a different challenge altogether, describing the delta variant as “COVID-21.” Dr. Mobeen Rathore said a mandate would be “two weeks too late.”
The dress code change was preceded by a robust public comment period with 68 speakers. Many of them questioned the need for the meeting and the timing thereof, chiding the board for bucking the Governor’s Executive Order and the Student Bill of Rights in favor of thwarting mask choice.
“I don’t follow the science because it’s not proven the masks work … I follow the money,” said another anti-mask mom. “Do not muzzle our children.”
“You’ll come to realize we parents are a formidable force,” said an older gentleman, urging the board to consider resignation.
“It just seems like DeSantis is the only one who cares about my child,” said another mom.
“You’re trying to kill these children, slowly but surely,” another anti-mask mother, Grace de la Rosa, said. She noted she is running for the school board herself.
Pro-maskers, too had their say.
Democratic mayoral candidate Donna Deegan, a cancer survivor, urged the board to pass the mandate, saying that many kids are immunocompromised and that still others bring the virus home to immunocompromised parents.
Former mayoral chief of staff Chris Hand reminded the board that, in his legal view, they had the right to take actions such as mask mandates. He noted that the state Constitution gives school boards authority and latitude to do so.
A representative from the union representing bus drivers noted that up to 70 students could be on a bus, meaning social distancing is impossible.
10 comments
Frankie M.
August 23, 2021 at 10:24 pm
Forget the opt out nonsense. Are masks required or are they still strongly recommended? If it’s the latter then everything else is a moot point. Follow up: Did Hershey say which House race she’s got her eye on?
K Carter
August 23, 2021 at 11:40 pm
My child is a senior and will not be wearing a mask. She will be opted out by a now required health care provider. I find it to be strange times when a group of political hacks can decide what my child needs to do to stay safe. When discussing this with my student she reminds me of what Dems say about abortion “my body, my choice” but this does not apply to wearing masks. Makes you think!
David
August 24, 2021 at 8:47 pm
It obviously doesn’t make you think. No woman puts anyone else at risk when she chooses what to do with her own body. Anti-maskers who think that everyone who has an advanced degree in the science is a ‘political hack’ (usually because they didn’t finish high school) can look at a full ICU and let their daughter get the virus and hug her grandmother. Too bad it’s past Mother’s Day.
K Carter
August 25, 2021 at 6:48 am
Yes she puts a child at risk-Abortion is actually killing a child.
Andrew Finn
August 24, 2021 at 12:19 am
More good news with congratulations to Duval County for joining the seven other smart counties and requiring masks. If you can be required to wear a shirt and shoes in businesses, then you can be required to wear a mask in a school. Just makes sense and falls under the “Don’t Be Stupid” rule of thumb. There will be more joining this week after the courts get finished with Emperor DeSantis and his moronic anti-mask edict.
K Carter
August 24, 2021 at 8:05 am
It is about freedom- communist do not understand!!! The Flu has historically been as challenging as COVID, however, it was not mandated that our children have a flu shot. Where was the outcry when my daughter’s 3rd grade class was wiped out by the flu?
David Agosta
August 24, 2021 at 8:51 pm
Unhappy your daughter survived that and want just another chance at killing her?
Johny Reb
August 24, 2021 at 5:22 am
This is the worst school board in the history of Jacksonville. Only Joyce is a true conservative, Hershey is a RINO. The rest are pathetic weak kneed socialist liberals. I hope the Governor socks it to them but good.
David Agosta
August 24, 2021 at 8:49 pm
Me agree. Liberal bad. Dead children good. Me no want liberal. Me want dead children.
K Carter
August 25, 2021 at 6:24 am
Note to David- you have nothing of substance to say about the issue other than outlandish comments. My daughter had the flu shot and still got the flu. We are not into killing children. Two people in my family had the Covid-19 vaccine and still got Covid-my elderly mother was one of them whom lives with us and she did not get it from her granddaughter. We are thinking she got it from her health care worker. Why would my daughter not wearing a mask endanger others around her that wear a mask and are vaccinated? Also why do people like you always go the educational route instead of respecting people’s opinions-you just call them stupid and uneducated when views are different than yours? Please tell me why? I might actually have more education than you, what does it matter?
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