Duval County School Board approves criteria to lift mask mandate

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Duval County School Board connected Tuesday voted to automatically assistance the district’s disguise mandate erstwhile the COVID-19 positivity complaint successful the assemblage reaches a “moderate level.”

The 90-day disguise mandate for students went into effect Tuesday, but Superintendent Dr. Diana Greene said the territory tin widen it oregon chopped it short.

She revealed astatine Tuesday’s schoolhouse committee gathering her program to automatically suspend the district’s mandate erstwhile assemblage transmission of COVID-19 successful Duval County reaches a seven-day rolling mean of “moderate,” which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines arsenic a 5-7.99% positivity complaint during the past 7 days.

Greene said the complaint successful Duval County was 13-14% past week.

“I bash not privation to bespeak immoderate timeline,” Greene said. “The extremity is to get to moderate.”

The schoolhouse committee voted 7-0 to o.k. the superintendent’s plan.

News4Jax talked with schoolhouse committee seat Elizabeth Andersen astir the move. She said she hopes it volition motivate assemblage members to get vaccinated and deterioration masks.

“This is an accidental for communities to beryllium engaged and involved. When we’re steadfast arsenic a community, past our students bash not person to beryllium wearing masks successful schools, and it allows america to beryllium much escaped and making definite children are capable to person the acquisition they deserve,” Andersen said.

As of Monday evening, 2,157 COVID-19 cases had been reported successful Duval County schools since the archetypal time of schoolhouse connected Aug. 10, according to the district’s dashboard. Of those cases, 1,908 were students and 249 were unit members.

“Right present we are truly focused connected truly trying to marque definite our students are successful schoolhouse and learning,” Andersen. “We closed retired the time contiguous with implicit 2,100 cases -- that’s much than 85% of wherever we were past schoolhouse twelvemonth successful conscionable a month.”

Three Duval County schools person had to temporarily unopen down this schoolhouse twelvemonth owed to COVID-19 outbreaks, including, most recently, Ed While High School. According to the district, 76 classrooms person besides been closed owed to COVID-19.

At the meeting, immoderate committee members expressed their concerns with the mandate fixed the COVID-19 cases crossed the community.

“COVID is not going away. That adept you guys brought successful contiguous said this is the beginning,” said committee subordinate Charlotte Joyce.

Yet immoderate parents made it wide to the committee that they bash not deliberation students should beryllium required to deterioration masks, including Tia Bess, who’s among a group of parents who person filed a suit against the territory implicit the mandate.

“I person a lad that’s connected the autism spectrum — code and proceeding delayed — and we’re the ones being near behind. No 1 is coming to our location for further enactment services, and it’s clip to talk up,” Bess said.

Tarin Helm is besides among those parents. She said her girl is proceeding impaired and has struggled to pass with her teachers wearing masks.

“Now she’s adjacent having a hard clip talking to her friends — fto unsocial the teachers. Now we’re being forced to propulsion her retired of schoolhouse due to the fact that determination is specified a artifact that has been created now. We person nary prime successful the matter,” Helm said.

Some committee members asked what would hap if the mandate is lifted. The territory told News4Jax that it doesn’t person thing acceptable successful spot to reactivate the mandate. The committee would person to person different gathering to bring up a mandate.

Last month, the Duval County School Board approved the 90-day disguise mandate for each students unless they get a enactment from a licensed wellness attraction provider. The signed certification form indispensable accidental the pupil has a medical, carnal oregon intelligence information that prevents them from wearing a look covering.

Students are expected to deterioration their masks astatine each times with the objection of eating and during outdoor activities, but dissimilar past schoolhouse year, students who bash not travel the disguise guidelines might beryllium charged with a codification of behaviour infraction.

The disguise mandate is acceptable to expire connected Dec. 6, 2 weeks earlier wintertime break.

Meanwhile, the territory is locked successful a combat with the authorities implicit the mandate.

Last month, Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran sent a informing saying that if the schoolhouse territory doesn’t driblet its “illegal” disguise mandate the authorities would slash backing successful the signifier of schoolhouse committee salaries and perchance enforce different sanctions. Although, a judge ruled against the DeSantis administration, saying that helium can’t punish districts for imposing mandates nether the Parents’ Bill of Rights. That ruling is being appealed.

In its response, the Duval County School Board said it chose to enactment the mandate successful spot aft 11 schoolhouse territory employees died and much than 1,600 COVID-19 cases were reported successful schools implicit the archetypal 3 weeks.

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