Broward County Public Schools vote to maintain mask mandate despite Florida governor’s executive order to leave masks up to parents

CNN, WJHG, WPTV

By Amir Vera and Maria Cartaya, CNN

The Broward County School Board voted Tuesday to maintain the school district’s mask mandate that was originally approved July 28.

After listening to 48 public speakers and reviewing more than 350 written comments from local residents, the board voted 8-1 to keep the mask mandate in place, allowing exceptions for health and safety concerns only, according to a news release from the school division. Broward County schools started school Tuesday.

“You can’t ignore this pandemic. It’s deadly, and it’s getting worse instead of better and the more we don’t use masks, the more we position the mutation of this virus to grow,” said Rosalind Osgood, school board chair, during the special board meeting Tuesday.

She later told CNN she’s not willing to “risk and play Russian roulette” with children who can’t get vaccinated.

Requests to opt out of the mask mandate “will be considered due to medical needs, Individual Education Plans or Section 504 accommodations,” the school division news release said.

Broward’s latest vote sets up a showdown with Gov. Ron DeSantis, who in July issued an executive order requiring the state’s health and education departments to create rules that allow parents — not schools — to decide whether their children should wear masks. The order effectively prohibits mask mandates in school districts.

“It’s safe to assume that the decision by Broward school board members to violate parents’ rights to make decisions for their own children will result in a similar response,” the governor’s press secretary, Christina Pushaw, told CNN.

The governor’s office Monday said the state’s Board of Education could move to withhold the salaries of superintendents and school board members who disregard the governor’s executive order.

“The fact of the matter is that parents are in the best position to know what’s best for their kids,” DeSantis said at a news conference Tuesday. “Our policy, based on the parents’ bill of rights, is this is the parents’ decision under Florida law at this point.”

The school board said in its news release it “authorized the district’s interim general counsel and interim superintendent to retain outside counsel to evaluate and file legal action to challenge” DeSantis’ executive order.

Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran wrote in a letter to the Broward County superintendent informing them that an investigation of non-compliance had been initiated.

“If this matter is not addressed by submitting the documentation establishing compliance with the law, the maximum accountability measure provided for under the law will be imposed,” Corcoran wrote.

Osgood said she and the school board “refuse to be bullied into a perspective of parochial self-interest, where we are forced to place monetary value on people’s lives.”

“We have concluded that people’s lives are invaluable,” she said. “It is too big a chance to take when you do the cost-benefit analysis. It’s not ever OK to risk your child’s life.”

Several lawsuits have since been filed challenging the constitutionality of the executive order. Several school districts are considering mask mandates and a few have said masks will be required, with some opt-out exceptions.

Other school districts that have defied DeSantis’ executive order and instituted a mask mandate include Leon County, which includes Tallahassee; Alachua County, which includes Gainesville; Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa; and Orange County, which includes Orlando.

Corcoran also sent non-compliance investigation letters to the superintendents of Leon and Alachua counties.

Corcoran’s letters said he may recommend to the state Board of Education that the education department “withhold funds in an amount equal to the salaries for the Superintendent and all the members of the School Board.”

“There is no room for error or leniency when it comes to ensuring compliance with policies that allow parents and guardians to make health and educational choices for the children,” Corcoran’s letter read.

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CNN’s Rebekah Riess and Steve Almasy contributed to this report.