School boards in Hillsborough and Miami-Dade counties issued mask mandates Wednesday, a day after the state school board voted to penalize two other districts for similar orders. Two Florida counties issued mask mandates for students Wednesday, defying the ban on such mandates by Gov. Ron DeSantis and risking sanctions. Hillsborough County Public Schools voted in favor of a temporary 30-day mandate during an emergency meeting, which was called because 5,599 students and 316 staff members have either tested positive for Covid-19 or been exposed to the coronavirus in the district.
The school board in Miami-Dade, the state’s largest county, also voted in favor of a mask mandate Wednesday. Both school boards have allowed for medical exemptions to the mandates. DeSantis issued an executive order banning mask mandates in schools and threatened districts that defy the order. The Florida Board of Education voted Tuesday to penalize the Alachua and Broward county public school districts for their own mask mandates. It’s unclear what kind of sanctions the districts will face; DeSantis has threatened to withhold state funding equal to the salaries of superintendents and all school board members.
Addison Davis, superintendent of the Hillsborough district, advised against a mandate and backed continuing to allow parents to opt their children out of wearing masks, citing the penalties against the two other counties. “They stood really strong against the stances that two school districts took, and they were very clear about how they will hold funds,” Davis said. “Which, from our organization, we cannot withstand that.”
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