Board of Education votes to sanction Duval, 8 other Florida school over mask mandates

3 years ago 224

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Duval County, Alachua County and a fistful of different Florida schoolhouse districts volition suffer authorities funds aft requiring students to deterioration masks successful usurpation of a Department of Health regularisation prohibiting specified mandates.

The Board of Education voted unanimously Thursday to o.k. Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran’s petition to withhold authorities backing adjacent to School Board members’ salaries positive immoderate magnitude the national authorities contributes to marque up for it.

The committee besides voted Thursday to withhold backing for Brevard, Broward, Indian River, Leon, Miami-Dade, Orange and Palm Beach counties for violating the DOH’s rule.

“Follow of this unlawful regularisation would person an adverse effect connected the wellness of students and unit successful our district,” Duval County School Superintendent Diana Greene said. “We are protecting our students and providing a high-quality acquisition and a harmless learning environment.”

Four different districts person had backed down connected their disguise mandates. Lee and Volusia backed down earlier the archetypal fines were levied. Hillsborough and Sarasota counties rescinded their disguise requirements earlier this week.

News4Jax is moving to corroborate the magnitude of the fines connected Duval and different schoolhouse districts.

The authorities primitively planned to good the counties the equivalent of the salaries of their schoolhouse committee members’ salaries. After the Biden Administration reimbursed Alachua and Broward counties for the magnitude of funds the authorities withheld during the archetypal circular of sanctions, Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran announced helium was going to inquire the committee to withhold “state funds successful an magnitude adjacent to immoderate national assistance funds awarded to districts that defy the state’s prohibition connected schoolhouse disguise requirements.

“It’s a shame that authorities has enactment Gov. DeSantis’ Board of Education astatine likelihood with section schools trying to support our kids,” said authorities Rep. Angie Nixon, D-Jacksonville. “Local officials studied the subject and chose to travel the recommendations of aesculapian experts, and for that, the authorities is threatening to withhold funding. This strong-arm maneuver forces the districts to marque a unspeakable choice: harm students by not protecting them, oregon harm students by having authorities backing withheld. It’s shameful, embarrassing, and wrong. Not to notation petty. It’s petty partisan antics that are jeopardizing our kids’ lives and their future.”

Alachua School Superintendent Dr. Carlee Simon argued earlier this week that the state’s vigor could beryllium amended spent.

“We person important needs successful our schoolhouse strategy that person been successful the contiguous concern with COVID arsenic good arsenic decades anterior to. I would admit a absorption connected educating our children and little connected punishing schoolhouse districts,” Simon said.

The Board of Education ballot was each procedural, with the existent conflict going to beryllium successful a courtroom.

Duval County and six different districts connected Thursday filed a suit challenging the state’s exigency regularisation connected masks, which fundamentally says that the Flordia Department of Health lone has the powerfulness to acceptable wellness policy. Its regularisation banning disguise mandates doesn’t acceptable immoderate wellness argumentation but lone talks astir protecting parental rights.