VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – Several Central Florida school districts are taking up masks again this week.
Volusia County announced it schedule an emergency meeting on Thursday to discuss its mandatory face-covering policy. The meeting was announced days before the policy starts.
Last week the board passed a mandate requiring students to wear masks until mid-October unless they have a doctor’s note.
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The Lake County school board is also meeting on Thursday to vote on the superintendent’s proposed mask requirement. The three-tier system compiles COVID data and requires masks for schools with the highest percentage of cases.
“Masks will be required when staff and students return to school on Monday, however, because the governor’s order currently remains in law and prohibits a mask requirement, schools in red will have a mask requirement with the provision for a parent opt-out,” Superintendent Diane Kornegay said.
The mask policy expires this week in Seminole County. Last week the board voted to keep it the same and allow parents to opt-out. Board member Kristine Kraus said the superintendent could extend the policy during Tuesday’s meeting.
“I would expect best practices would be to continue the rule that she put in place with the parent opt-out. I would expect that to continue,” Kraus said.
Orange and Brevard counties still have mandatory mask requirements in place.
The lawsuit filed against the governor’s executive order banning masks without parent opt-out options continues to move through the court system.
The state is appealing the judge’s ruling that found the order unconstitutional. Because of the appeal, the law still stands.
But the parents who are suing the governor are hoping the judge who ruled in their favor will intervene and allow his ruling to stand while the appeal process plays out. The judge hasn’t ruled on that yet.