When Governor DeSantis put parents’ rights and freedom above mandates from unelected bureaucrats with M.D. beside their name, parents in at least two Florida school districts were displeased.
Some might say the complainants are putting politics and ideology above the welfare of their children. Others might feel they are putting their faith in longtime government employees who can’t keep their stories straight.
Masks can be very damaging to the development of some children. As children develop, they learn about people from facial expressions. That is lost with masking, as is the teaching of phonics and reading.
One school district decided to ignore Governor DeSantis’ order and mandate masks. The other included an opt-out clause.
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ALACHUA
Alachua County Public Schools (ACPS) in Gainsville and Duval County Public Schools (DCPS) in Jacksonville announced mask mandates for students, teachers, and staff Tuesday night. Duval, however, compromised and allowed parents an opt-out.
Alachua Schools voted to temporarily mandate masks across the district for the first two weeks of class. The school board will reevaluate and assess the need for masking on August 17.
“In light of dramatic increases in local COVID cases and hospitalizations, including among children, the School Board has voted to require masks for students for the first two weeks of school,” Alachua Schools tweeted.
Alachua Schools voted to temporarily mandate masks across the district for the first two weeks of class. The school board will reevaluate and assess the need for masking on August 17.
They can mandate all they want, but if a parent chooses to send the child unmasked, the parent can do it under the Governor’s executive order.
DUVAL
Newsweek claims a parade of parents and teachers gathered outside of the Duval school district headquarters with signs and chants to plead for the school board to issue a mask mandate, according to The Florida Times-Union.
We don’t know how many a parade is, and can’t assume it’s a lot of people.
A school board meeting later that evening lasted over four hours in Duval County and resulted in a mask mandate—with a catch. Duval schools will allow parents to opt their children out of the mask requirement. That is in keeping with the executive order.
Broward County Public Schools in Fort Lauderdale reversed their mask mandate after the executive order was issued.
THE EXECUTIVE ORDER
The executive order was issued to make sure schools “do not violate parents’ right under Florida law to make health care decisions for their minor children,” according to the order. Districts who do not comply may have their state funding pulled.
“Even if a School Board passes a ‘mask mandate,’ they will not be able to enforce it, because the choice will be up to parents whether their children wear masks or not,” Christina Pushaw, the governor’s press secretary, said to Florida Politics on Tuesday.
FIGHT AUTHORITARIANISM
About those dramatic increases in cases. In Alachua County, the 7-day average was 155 cases and no deaths. In Duval County, there were 1,192 cases with no deaths, according to USA Facts.org. Many of the afflicted are asymptomatic. We don’t know the comorbidity problems of the patients but of children, in general, one-third have serious comorbidities.
In terms of hospitalizations, none of the hospitals are overflowing. Hospitals need to make money and want them as close to capacity as possible. The seven-day average shows 19 pediatric cases.
Can we really continue to limit our lives as each variant comes through? Many of the new cases are brought in by people pouring in illegally from over 160 countries. They are bringing the virus with them.
Hopefully, parents aren’t trusting Twitter for their information. There are hundreds of commenters on Alachua, in particular, who have few friends on the platform. That’s a sign that they are influencers from leftist organizations sent out to sway opinion – make everyone think there’s a groundswell.
Once you give up your freedoms to the government, you will never get them back. When you give up the freedom of speech and allow the government to order you to take a drug or wear a mask, you won’t get it back. It’s delusional to think otherwise.
All Governor DeSantis said is its’ up to the parents.
The media is gaslighting us, making everything seem worse than it is.
wpDiscuz
