Miami-Dade School Board makes masks mandatory, joining Broward in opposing state order
Miami-Dade County Public Schools became the latest Florida school district to mandate students and teachers wear facial coverings for the start of the 2021-22 academic year.
The nine-member School Board voted 7-1 on the mandate Wednesday afternoon. District 5 Board Member Christi Fraga was not at the hearing.
Earlier in the day, Superintendent Alberto Carvalho told the State Board of Education that he was prepared to face the consequences of defying Gov. Ron DeSantis’ order forbidding school districts from requiring masks without giving parents a choice to opt out.
“For the consequences associated with doing the right thing, whatever that right thing is, I will wear proudly as a badge of honor,” Carvalho told the state board during the meeting at Miami Dade College’s Wolfson Campus. “I’m going to leave here today and go to my own school board meeting and I’m going to do that, which is right, rightfully righteous.”
More than a dozen people against mandatory masking policies spoke against the rule and protested outside Miami-Dade Schools’ headquarters.
“Social and emotional development is being stunted in masked children,” said Jimena Hills, a parent and recreational therapist.
Several people also spoke in support of the policy, including Democratic state Sen. Annette Taddeo, who has a child in the public school system.
“As a mom, I’m very scared. And, I know I’m not alone,” Taddeo said.
The rule, which will be revisited periodically to determine if it is needed based on local COVID positivity rates, applies to all indoor areas and school buses. Masks won’t be required for outdoor activities like sports and physical education classes. In addition to students and teachers, all other staff, visitors and volunteers must wear facial coverings while inside Miami-Dade Schools facilities.
Only children who receive a medical endorsement from a licensed Florida physician can opt out of the mandate. The original protocol presented at the meeting also contained a religious exemption, but that was removed at the request of District 9 Board Member Luisa Santos.
Classes begin Monday, but the policy is effective immediately, Carvalho said. Broward County schools and the schools operated by the Archdiocese of Miami started classes Wednesday, also with mask mandates for students and staff.
Rapidly spreading delta variant prompts board to act
Board members said they voted for the mandate because of the delta variant of the COVID-19 virus, which continues to spread rapidly in South Florida.
“The tens of thousands of people testing positive for COVID, and the people that have died, including a 13-year-old, are depending on us to stand, to speak, to lead and to vote in a manner that does not capitulate to political pressures but relies on the empirical, scientific evidence and advice that should guide our decision making on this medically driven problem and rest on a medically driven, scientific-based solution,” School Board Vice Chair Steve Gallon III said.
A seven-member task force made up of local doctors advising the School Board recommended the mandate during a meeting with Carvalho and some board members Monday night.
“What we are facing in our community is a public health emergency that is putting lives at risk,” said Board Chair Perla Tabares Hantman.
Board Member Lubby Navarro voted against the mandate because she said it violates state law by not giving parents the ability to opt their children out of the rule.
“My constituents of District 7 never elected me to violate state law,” Navarro said.
Navarro cited a State Board of Education emergency meeting held Tuesday where sanctions were considered against two other Florida school boards — Broward and Alachua — that passed mask mandates. The mandates, according to state board members, violate DeSantis’ executive order prohibiting such policies, which he issued July 30.
“The Constitution of the state of Florida in the 1968 revision, says in a matter of this legal nature, where there is conflicts between the state and other constitutional bodies, the governor is the supreme executive. Gov. Ron DeSantis issued executive order 21-175, and an executive order is effective immediately,” Navarro said.
Protocols for quarantining
Also discussed at Wednesday’s meeting is what happens if a student must quarantine because he or she was exposed with COVID-19 or contracted the virus. The district’s protocol will be that students must stay out of school and isolate for 10 days, with or without a negative COVID test.
The district administration is in talks with the United Teachers of Dade to work out how a quarantined student would learn while away from the physical classroom. Carvalho said he hopes the union is amenable to teachers making their classes available online, but negotiations are ongoing.
“It would be a shame for them not to have any access to the educational environment that they deserve,” Carvalho said.
This story was originally published August 18, 2021 at 7:13 PM.
