Broward school board to meet over masks; Miami-Dade school mask protocols may be revised
With the number of new COVID cases in Florida surging, school districts in Miami-Dade and Broward may be reconsidering their mask policies before students return to classrooms Monday.
Broward County Public Schools on Wednesday announced the School Board will convene an emergency meeting Friday “for the purpose of amending its facial coverings policy.” The amendment, however, “will apply to staff, visitors, and vendors, not students,” according to a news release.
“The district finds that the significant increase in local COVID-19 positivity rates related to the omicron variant presents an immediate danger” to the public’s health, safety and welfare, the news release stated.
District spokesperson Kathy Koch also confirmed any changes would not apply to students. The meeting is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools on Tuesday also announced it “will release a set of updated protocols” regarding its COVID-19 mitigation strategies. No specific changes have been announced, but officials this week have been “reviewing existing protocols and analyzing data,” spokeswoman Daisy Gonzalez-Diego told the Herald. The updated policies are to be released by week’s end, she said.
Broward, Miami initially defied governor’s mask-mandate ban
While it’s unclear just how far any changes would go, a potential battle over mask mandates would be nothing new for the two South Florida districts.
In August, days before Broward was set to begin the 2021-22 school year, the School Board doubled down on its effort to have students wear masks and voted 8-1 to keep its mask mandate in place for the start of the school year.
At the time, Broward and Alachua school boards were the first two to defy the governor’s order preventing districts from imposing a mask mandate. Soon after, however, Miami-Dade followed suit, implementing a mask mandate the following week.
What followed was a legal battle between six districts across the state, including Miami Dade and Broward, and the DeSantis administration. Last month, however, a judge dismissed the districts’ lawsuit against the governor’s ban on mask mandates and during a special legislative session, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the ban into law.
Broward and Miami-Dade also eased their mask policies in October and November, allowing for parents to opt their children out of wearing masks. At the time, the rule change was attributed to a decline in COVID-19 cases.
Omicron’s surging cases in Florida
Broward County schools’ announcement Wednesday comes as Florida continues to report record-high COVID-19 cases. Florida on Tuesday reported nearly 47,000 new cases, according to Wednesday’s report to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the largest single-day increase since the pandemic began in March 2020. The number is based on Miami Herald calculations of CDC data.
Still, despite the surge in cases in South Florida, another mask mandate for students may be unlikely.
“Clearly, (legislation) undercuts initial efforts adopted by the School Board in August for mandatory masks and related protocols and now prohibits facial covering mandates for students in public schools,” said Steve Gallon III, Miami-Dade School Board vice chairperson.
“Regretfully, masks, which is a proven mitigation strategy in reducing the spread of COVID-19, has been disallowed as a mandate as a matter of recent changes in law,” he said. “It will now be incumbent upon the district to work with and encourage parents and families to employ scientifically proven strategies, including masks, to provide enhanced protection” for students and staff.
This story was originally published December 29, 2021 at 7:10 PM.
