SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — The Seminole County Public Schools district decided to mandate masks for teachers and staff, but some parents are hoping the district goes a step further and requires masks for everyone.
What You Need To Know
- Starting Friday, all Seminole school employees must wear a mask indoors
- Vendors and contractors will also be required to wear face coverings.
- Visitors are barred during school hours for the first two weeks of school
- Students in Seminole public schools go back to classes Tuesday.
Students are heading back to the classroom next week in Seminole County. With no mask mandate for everyone and rising case numbers, parents like Bethany and Eric Backes are concerned.
“Extremely disappointed. I felt like it was way too early to make such a decision,” said Bethany Backes, whose daughter is in grade school.
They were shocked when the Seminole County Public Schools board members voted in June to make masks optional.
“I just felt like it was irresponsible and premature and a bit frustrating because it threw us into a tailspin," Bethany Backes said.
The Backes are part of a Facebook group called “Keep Masks in SCPS!”
Since the vote, the delta variant has surged. An SCPS spokesperson said the district is monitoring the situation and will do what is best for all families.
The district’s options appeared unclear after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an executive order and threatened to withhold state funds for instituting mask mandates.
“If you look at the actual order, it doesn’t say as much as we think it does,” said Seema Mohapatra, a visiting professor at Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law.
The executive order wording doesn’t actually say schools cannot institute mask mandates, she said.
“It’s basically telling the Florida Department of Health and the Florida Department of Education to work together to make sure that the rules regarding schools follow Florida law," Mohapatra said.
Lawsuits may be filed and someone may try to seek an injunction to keep the order from taking effect, Mohapatra said
It’s unclear how a court would rule on the matter, she said. She also pointed out that any litigation wouldn't be resolved by the start of school.
“Going through the litigation and going through the court process takes a long time, and so I don’t think we’re going to have clarity,” Mohapatra said.
The Backes said they’re hoping the school district can reverse course and bring back a mask mandate for everyone.
“I’m sending my kid in with a mask,” Bethany said. “That’s going to help her to a certain extent, but not if someone else is not wearing a mask.”
SCPS students go back to school on Tuesday.