Miami-Dade school district relaxes masks for high school, middle school students
After more than a year of masking their children so they could attend school amid COVID-19, parents of Miami-Dade public high school and middle school students can opt out of the district’s mask mandate, effective immediately, district officials said Monday.
“We have improved significantly. We have listened to our health experts. That is why we are relaxing these protocols,” Miami-Dade Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said at a press conference Monday afternoon.
Elementary school students and students in the district’s 54 kindergarten through eighth-grade schools will still have to wear masks, but that may change within weeks if COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths continue to plummet in South Florida, Carvalho said.
On Monday, Florida reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 1,694 new COVID-19 cases, down considerably from the summer surge of 10,000-plus new cases a day, fueled by the delta variant.
To opt out, parents will have to fill out a form, which can be accessed at https://backtoschool.dadeschools.net or obtained at school.
Districts still fighting DeSantis
Miami-Dade County Public Schools is one of eight school districts statewide fighting with the DeSantis administration’s prohibition on mandating masks as a way to slow the spread of COVID-19 in schools.
But, Carvalho noted, the district was able to relax the mask rules in large part because the district stood its ground against Tallahassee and listened to a task force of physicians who’ve been advising school officials on COVID protocols.
Students have been wearing masks in Miami-Dade public schools since early October 2020, when schools reopened after pivoting to remote learning last March when the pandemic began.
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“That’s why our protocols have been not only air tight, but they have worked,” he said.
Miami-Dade School Board District 2 Member Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall also said it was the district’s willingness to defy the governor that enabled the mask rules to be relaxed.
“We took a stand and, of course, we are looking at the results,” she said.
So far, the Florida Department of Education has not levied any fines against Miami-Dade County Public Schools for going against the governor’s order on masks, Carvalho said Monday. The state, however, has levied fines against the Broward and Alachua school districts equivalent to the annual salaries of the school board members who voted for mask mandates. (Broward and Alachua were the first two districts to defy the state.)
Last week, the U.S. Department of Education asked a judge to block the DeSantis administration’s actions, which has cost Broward Schools more than $500,000 and Alachua, nearly $200,000.
On Monday, a spokesman for the state Department of Education said the state was reviewing Miami-Dade’s mask relaxation policy.
“It’s too soon to speculate if their new policy is in compliance with state law,’’ said Jared Ochs, a DOE spokesman. “Our staff will have to review an amended policy and ensure that it includes a parental opt-out (at their sole discretion) for all grades before making such a determination.”
Miami’s metrics for school COVID protocols
Miami-Dade, working with the medical task force, has relied on a key set of metrics in deciding COVID protocols in the schools.
One of the metrics, for example, is that the seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases in the county remains below 100 per 100,000 people for two consecutive weeks. On Friday, that rate dropped to 75.9 cases per 100,000, Carvalho said. For the week of Oct. 19 to Oct. 25, that was 77 per 100,000. Less than three months ago, the county reached a peak of 738 new cases per 100,000.
The district also wanted to see vaccination rates rise among students eligible for the jab (ages 12 to 18) before loosening masking rules. According to the district, 83% of eligible school-aged children have received at least one dose of the two-shot regimen, and 62% are fully vaccinated.
“This is remarkable progress,” Carvalho said.
That said, the superintendent urged those who haven’t been vaccinated to do so soon, or the county risks reversing the current trend.
“We, as a community, are in a good place,” Carvalho said. “We are not out of the woods yet.”
Broward high schoolers can opt out of masks
The announcement comes almost a week after the Broward County School Board voted to make masks optional for high school students. That policy went into effect Monday.
Broward elementary and middle school students still must wear facial coverings because most of the nine School Board members said they wanted to wait until the COVID-19 vaccine is available to children between the ages of five and 11 before relaxing the policy.
On Friday, the Food and Drug Administration authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for emergency use in children ages 5 to 11. On Tuesday, advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will provide more detailed recommendations on how the vaccine should be administered, with the CDC director expected to make a final decision shortly afterward.
Karla Hernandez-Mats, president of the United Teachers of Dade, issued a statement supporting the district’s decision.
“This is a step in the right direction as we continue to utilize the various mitigation protocols in use,’’ she said. “As more people and students become vaccinated and continue to prioritize safety, the more steps forward we will be able to make. We will continue to follow science and protect our communities.”
This story was originally published November 1, 2021 at 2:29 PM.
