BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — Members of the Brevard Public Schools voted 3 to 2 to keep the school district's current mask mandate in place for at least another 30 days, but there is a big change.
What You Need To Know
- There will be another new opt-out option
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Currently, there is no parent "opt-out" option, which defies the governor's stance on mandates. The only available opt-out option is with a doctor’s note.
But in the Tuesday night meeting, board members did say parents would have another opt-out option of the mandate: if cases continue to go down.
However, for now, that opt-out option is not available.
After public comment, board members weighed in on why the mask mandate needed to stay in place.
"We started the school with their recommendation of no mandatory masks and in my opinion, it was pretty catastrophic. When you look at the number of people that contracted the virus the number of people that got sick," said Misty Belford of District 1. "Just because we don't have a lot of people dying, thankfully, it can still have a widespread impact."
Currently, the state of Florida's new emergency rule protocol gives parents the right to choose whether their kids will wear masks at school.
Florida's Department of Health has already withheld salaries in Alachua and Broward counties for not complying with the no masks mandate.